/,  /^    /.'•' 


^^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *^ 


Purchased   by  the    Hamill    Missionary   Fund. 


BV  2060  .F3         ,.4. 
Faunce,  William  Herbert 

Perry,  1859-1930. 
The  social  aspects  of 


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CKOci'   oi'    •i\\i:.\-r\-'r\V()    \•|■/il;l^\x    .mission. \kii:s 

At    the    Centenary    Conference,    1907.    all    had    been    in    China    forty 
years   or   more 


THE  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 
OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


BY 


v' 


William  Herbert  Perry  Faunce 

PRESIDENT    OF    BROWN    UNIVERSITY 


NEW     YO  RK 

Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 

United  States  and  Canada 

1914 


COPYRIGHT,   1914,  BY 

MISSIONARY   EDUCATION  MOVEMENT  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface v-vi 

Introductory vii-x 

I     Relation  of  the  Individual  to  Society. .       3 
II     Types  of  Social  Order  in  the  East  and 

the  West 33 

III  The  Projection  of  the  West  into  the 

East 67 

IV  Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries..    loi 
V     Social    Achievements    of    Missionaries 

(Continued)    141 

VI     Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary.  185 

VII     Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals 211 

VIII     The  Interchange  of  East  and  West 249 

Bibliography , 287 

Index 297 


111 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Group  of  Twenty-two  Veteran  Missionaries,  Frontispiece 

Sarah   Tucker   College,   Tinnevelli,    India      ....  22 

Palmer  Boarding  School,  Telugu,  South  India    ...  58 

Mission  Press,  Rangoon,  Burma 114 

American   College,   Madura,   India 126 

Peking  University,  Peking,   China 126 

Miraj  Hospital,  Miraj,  India 132 

Operating  Room,  Foochow  Hospital,  Foochow,  China    .  132 

General  Hospital,  Chungking,  West  China      •      •      .       •  132 

Warren  Memorial  Hospital,  Hwanghien,  China  .      ,      .  135 
Elizabeth  Shelton  Danforth  Memorial  Hospital,  Kiukiang, 

China              136 

Central  Training  School,  Old  Umtali,  Rhodesia  .      .      .  146 

Silliman  Institute,  Damaguete,  Philippine  Islands      .      .  160 

Mission  Hospital,  Madura,  India 170 

Alexander    M.    Mackay 190 

Archery,  Aoyama  Gakuin,  Tokio,  Japan 202 

Gymnastic  Drill,  Nanking  University,  Nanking,  China    .  202 

Main  Building,  Serampur  College,   Serampur,  India      .  214 

American  Deccan  Institute,  Ahmednagar,  India  .       .      .  220 

Industrial  School,  Jorbat,  Assam 220 

Alexander  Duff 226 

Main  Building,  Hospital,  Guntur,  India 260 

Orphanage,    Guntur,    India 260 


PREFACE 

On  returning  from  a  journey  through  the  Far- 
ther East  I  was  asked  to  prepare  this  book  as  an 
aid  to  people  in  their  study  of  the  missionary 
enterprise.  My  oriental  journey  was  not  intended 
as  a  "  tour  "  of  the  mission  stations.  My  chief 
desire  was  to  meet  the  natives  themselves,  to  look 
through  their  eyes,  and  gain  some  glimpse  of  their 
racial  characteristics  and  their  point  of  view.  Buf^ 
I  soon  found  that  the  best  possible  approach  to  the 
soul  of  India  or  China  was  not  through  the  Euro- 
pean government  official  or  the  European  trader, 
both  of  them  aloof  and  sometimes  cynical,  but 
through  the  missionary,  whose  life  has  been  poured- 
into  the  lives  around  him.  Through  the  courtesy  of 
missionaries  I  found  windows  everywhere  opened 
into  native  life,  doors  flung  wide,  and  hands  out- 
stretched. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  set  forth  facts  except  as 
they  illustrate  principles.  The  facts  have  been  col- 
lected in  amazing  number  and  variety  by  Dr.  Den- 
nis in  his  three  encyclopedic  volumes  :  Christian  Mis^ 
sions  and  Social  Progress.  But  the  very  wealth  of 
facts  now  available  may  hinder  vision.  Our  real 
need  is  a  clearer  definition  of  what  we  are  trying 
to  do.  Each  generation  must  redefine  its  object. 
The  preaching  of  the  glad  tidings  must  ever  occupy 


VI 


Preface 


a  foremost  place  in  missionary  enterprise.  Evan- 
gelism is  the  cutting  edge  of  effort.  The  persua- 
sion of  the  human  will  to  righteousness  is  indis- 
pensable. But  a  complete  message  is  a  message  to 
the  whole  man,  and  aims  at  the  entire  transforma- 
tion of  both  the  individual  and  society. 

A  large  part  of  what  is  here  printed  was  delivered 
in  April,  19 14,  before  the  students,  faculty,  and 
friends  of  Crozer  Theological  Seminary,  as  "  The 
Samuel  A.  Crozer  Lectures." 

I  cannot  adequately  express  my  indebtedness  to 
many  friends  throughout  the  Orient,  to  the  officers 
of  the  Missionary  Societies  and  the  Alissionary  Edu- 
cation Movement,  to  Mrs.  John  E.  Clough  for  per- 
mission to  quote  from  Dr.  Clough's  Autobiography, 
now  in  press,  and  to  Dr.  James  Quayle  Dealey,  Pro- 
fessor of  Social  and  Political  Science  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity. All  of  these,  without  assuming  any  respon- 
sibility, have  given  me  much  helpful  counsel. 

W.  H.  P.  Faunce. 
Brown  University,  Providence,  R.  I. 
May  ig,  igi4' 


INTRODUCTORY 

In  this  book  we  are  to  study  one  phase  of  the  con- 
tact between  East  and  West.  The  most  momentous 
fact  of  modern  times  is  that  the  East  and  the  West 
are  coming  physically  nearer  to  each  other  every 
year,  and  yet  intellectually  and  spiritually  are  still 
separated  by  a  great  abyss.  The  distance  between 
any  two  points  on  the  earth's  surface — measured  by 
the  time  required  to  travel  that  distance — is  rapidly 
diminishing.  We  live  on  a  shrinking  globe,  whose 
surface,  measured  in  time,  is  not  one  half  as  great 
as  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  W^e  can  go  from  New 
York  to  Peking  in  much  less  time  than  our  grand- 
fathers needed  to  go  by  ''  prairie  schooner  "  from 
New  York  to  Chicago.  Thirty  years  ago  "  Around 
the  World  in  Eighty  Days  "  was  a  fairy-tale.  Now 
the  journey  has  been  completed  in  less  than  thirty- 
six  days.  London  and  Bombay  are  to-day  near 
neighbors.  Vancouver  and  Yokohama  are  gazing 
into  each  other's  eyes.  San  Francisco  and  Hong- 
kong are  conversing  by  telegraph,  and  soon  may  be 
communicating  by  telephone  and  aerial  ships.  The 
Mediterranean  through  the  Suez  Canal  flows  into 
the  Red  Sea  and  the  Indian  Ocean;  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  have  mingled  their  waters  in  the  Panama 
Canal.  All  the  oceans  have  become  one  ocean,  and 
all  the  world  is  physically  one  world. 


viii        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

But  what  will  happen  if  the  nations  draw  steadily 
closer  geographically,  and  remain  far  asunder  in 
sympathies  and  ideals?  What  will  happen  if  the 
races  clash  together  in  mutual  suspicion  and  hostil- 
ity? What  shall  be  the  result  if  we  bring  the  na- 
tions together  with  swift  ships  and  throbbing  wires, 
but  leave  them  alienated  by  the  natural — or  rather 
unnatural — hatred  of  white  men  and  black,  of  Mon- 
golian and  Caucasian? 

Already  incalculable  harm  has  been  done  by  the 
sudden  influx  of  the  white  man  and  his  ideas  among 
the  weaker  peoples.  We  all  know  what  havoc  was 
wrought  even  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  by  the  first 
European  conquerors  and  settlers.  In  Hayti  the 
entire  native  population  died  out  within  forty  years 
because  of  the  harshness  and  cruelty  of  Spanish  mis- 
government.  The  atrocities  wrought  by  the  white 
man  in  the  Kongo  State,  driving  the  blacks  to  pro- 
duce rubber,  are  still  fresh  in  our  minds.  Africa 
has  been  robbed  for  many  centuries  of  her  material 
treasure,  and  of  her  flesh  and  blood,  to  satisfy  Euro- 
pean and  American  greed.  The  mere  photographs 
of  what  the  white  man  has  done  to  the  natives  in 
central  Africa,  and  more  recently  in  Putumayo, 
Peru,  are  such  that  we  dare  not  bring  them  into  a 
civilized  home. 

Even  when  no  deliberate  wrong  is  done,  when  the 
white  man  goes  to  the  weaker  races  with  honest  and 
kindly  spirit,  still  his  coming  has  always  brought 
about  a  critical  situation.  He  has  carried  with  him 
novel  ideas,  more  penetrating  and  powerful  than 


Introductory  ix 

bayonets  or  cannon.  He  has  carried  and  spread 
abroad  his  own  curiosity  and  unrest.  He  has  un- 
dermined hoary  customs,  shaken  up  stagnant  minds, 
made  the  thrones  of  native  tyrants  to  totter,  and 
with  his  ideas  of  Hberty  and  law  and  popular  rights 
has  roused  from  slumber  whole  nations.  Thus  a 
crisis  has  recently  been  produced  in  every  Far  East- 
ern land.  India,  hitherto  a  "  land  where  it  is  al- 
ways afternoon,"  is  now  uneasily  stirring.  Japan 
has  become  more  modern  than  her  teachers.  China 
has  thrown  off  the  Manchu  yoke,  and  may  with  it 
lose  her  respect  for  parents,  for  institutions,  and  for 
morality.  Egypt  is  demanding  larger  share  in  her 
own  government.  The  Philippines  are  seething 
with  a  social  and  political  ferment  that  we  our- 
selves have  introduced.  The  nations  of  the  world 
have  been,  for  good  or  for  evil — usually  both — in- 
fected by  the  white  man's  presence.  Mr.  James 
Bryce,  perhaps  the  keenest  of  all  students  of  our 
modern  civilization,  says :  *'  This  is  perhaps  the 
most  critical  moment  ever  seen  in  the  history  of  non- 
Christian  nations  and  races.  ...  In  half  a  cen- 
tury or  less  that  which  we  call  European  civiliza- 
tion will  have  overspread  the  earth.  .  .  .  All  is 
trembling  and  crumbling  under  the  shock  and  im- 
pact of  the  stronger,  harder  civilization.  .  .  . 
Things  which  have  endured  from  the  stone  age 
until  now  are  at  last  coming  to  a  perpetual  end  and 
will  be  no  more."  ^ 

^  University  and  Historical  Addresses,  147. 


X  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

It  is  richly  worth  our  while  to  ask  how  far  these 
momentous  and  far-reaching  results  have  been 
brought  about  by  the  foreign  missionaries  who  rep- 
resent us  abroad,  and  what  sort  of  changes  these 
men  and  women  have  introduced.  First,  however, 
we  must  inquire  as  to  the  general  relation  of  the  in- 
dividual to  the  social  order,  and  what  Christianity 
has  to  say  about  that  relation. 


RELATION    OF   THE  INDIVIDUAL 
TO   SOCIETY 


Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  themselves;   for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not. 

— Measure    for   Measure. 

The  essence  of  Jesus'  teaching  consists  in  the  proclaiming  of  a 
new  order  of  the  world  and  of  life,  i.e.,  the  "  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,"  which  should  be  far  removed  from,  indeed  in  positive 
opposition  to,  existing  conditions;  in  fact,  opposed  to  all  the 
natural  doing  and  contriving  of  men,  to  the  *'  world."  In  Jesus' 
conception,  this  new  order  is  by  no  means  merely  an  inner  trans- 
formation, affecting  only  the  heart  and  mind,  and  leaving  the 
outer  world  in  the  same  condition.  Rather,  historical  research 
puts  it  beyond  question  that  the  new  kingdom  means  a  visible 
order  as  well,  that  it  aims  at  a  complete  change  of  the  state  of 
things,  and  hence  cannot  tolerate  any  rival  order.  Never  in  his- 
tory has  mankind  been  summoned  to  a  greater  revolution  than 
here,  where  not  this  and  that  among  the  conditions  but  the  to- 
tality   of    human    existence    is    to    be    regenerated. 

— Rudolf  Eucken. 


CHAPTER  I 

RELATION  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  TO 
SOCIETY 

Social  Organisms.  When  hundreds  of  students 
are  closely  associated  in  a  single  college,  does  the 
college  itself  become  a  living  organism?  When 
hundreds  of  voices  are  singing  of  alma  mater, 
"  benignant  mother,"  are  the  singers  using  a  mere 
figure  of  speech?  Or  does  the  college  have  a  life 
of  its  own,  far  longer  and  deeper  than  the  life  of 
any  student  who  comes  and  goes?  Is  there  such  a 
thing  as  ''  college  spirit,"  distinct  from  the  separate 
spirits  of  individual  students? 

Social  Methods  of  Approach.  When  we  see  hun- 
dreds of  workers  coming  out  of  a  cotton-mill  at 
nightfall,  we  sometimes  speak  of  them  as  *'  hands." 
Are  they  really  hands,  members  of  a  huge  body, 
possessed  of  a  common  consciousness  and  a  com- 
mon will,  and  working  together  as  hands  and  feet 
and  eyes  and  ears  cooperate  in  the  human  body? 
Or  are  all  the  workers  really  as  separate  from  one 
another  as  the  separate  pieces  in  a  game  of  chess? 
If  we  want  to  uplift  and  inspire  and  educate  those 
mill  workers,  shall  we  approach  them  one  by  one, 
or  as  a  mass?  Shall  we  study  the  individual  need, 
or  shall  we  provide   for  the  whole  group  better 

3 


4  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

sanitation,  better  ventilation,  better  wages,  better 
schools?  Which  method  did  primitive  Christianity 
adopt  when  it  conquered  the  Roman  empire  in  the 
first  three  centuries  ? 

Three  Theories.  Three  theories  have  prevailed 
in  the  past  as  to  the  relation  of  the  one  and  the 
many,  the  individual  and  the  group. 

Society  Viewed  as  a  Magnified  Man.  The  oldest 
of  these  is  the  organic  theory  of  society,  which 
conceives  the  social  order  as  a  sort  of  magnified 
human  being.  We  find  this  view  among  the  ancient 
Greeks,  who  made  the  state  immensely  more  impor- 
tant than  the  single  citizen.  Plato  tells  us  that  if 
we  want  to  understand  justice  we  should  first  study 
it  on  a  large  scale,  as  embodied  in  a  just  city.  Then 
we  may  later  understand  the  just  man — as  children 
learn  to  read  large  letters  before  they  are  able  to 
read  small  ones.  To  him  the  Greek  state  was  the 
Greek  man  ''  writ  large."  Aristotle  cannot  conceal 
his  scorn  for  the  isolated  individual,  owning  no 
allegiance  to  the  state.  ''  The  state,"  he  says,  "  is 
a  creation  of  nature,  man  is  by  nature  a  political 
animal,  and  he  who  by  nature,  and  not  by  mere  ac- 
cident, is  without  a  state  is  either  above  humanity 
or  below  it.     He  is  the 

*  Tribeless,  lawless,  hearthless  one  ' 
whom  Homer  denounces — the  outcast  who  is  a  lover 
of  war,  and  solitary  as  a  bird  of  prey."  ^ 

Force  of  This  Idea,  Late  and  Early.     This  idea 
of  the  social  order  finds  later  echo  in  the  striking 
^Politics,  Book  I,  Ch.  II. 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  5 

phrase  of  John  Milton — himself  a  stanch  individu- 
alist :  ''  The  state  is  one  huge  Christian  personage, 
one  mighty  growth  or  stature  of  an  honest  man." 
From  that  standpoint  a  state,  or  any  kind  of  so- 
ciety, is  vastly  more  than  an  aggregation  of  atoms, 
more  than  the  sum  of  the  persons  composing  it.  It 
has  a  character,  good  or  evil,  a  common  conscious- 
ness, a  corporate  responsibility.  It  is  a  sort  of 
artificial  or  metaphysical  person,  a  mighty  super- 
human being,  to  be  served  by  every  citizen  whose 
little  life  is  included  in  the  larger  life  of  the  entire 
social  order.  This  theory  minimizes  the  single  man, 
and  exalts  the  unity  of  the  group.  It  built  Athens, 
the  superb  ''  city  of  the  violet  crown,"  and  it  slew 
the  questioning,  critical  Socrates. 

Pervades  the  Old  Testament.  This  vivid  sense 
of  the  nation  as  a  living  being  pen^ades  all  the  Old 
Testament.  Israel,  addressed  as  "my  servant,"  is 
invited,  entreated,  warned,  punished,  rewarded  by 
Jehovah.  If  one  member  of  the  community  sinned 
— like  Achan — the  entire  nation  was  held  guilty, 
just  as  when  a  human  finger  is  poisoned  the 
whole  body  is  poisoned  through  that  finger.  The 
nation  was  responsible,  not  only  for  all  living  mem- 
bers, but  for  the  deeds  of  its  ancestors  as  well.  If 
the  fathers  had  "  eaten  sour  grapes,"  the  children's 
teeth  were  "  set  on  edge."  The  iniquity  of  the  fa- 
thers was  visited  "  upon  the  children,  and  upon  the 
third  and  upon  the  fourth  generation,"  and  it  did 
not  occur  to  the  prophets  to  question  the  justice  of 
such  a  principle.     The  Hebrew  nation  was  to  them 


6  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

a  living  being  enduring  through  the  ages.  It  had 
its  period  of  infancy :  *'  When  Israel  was  a  child, 
...  I  loved  him,  ...  I  took  him  on  my  arms." 
It  needed  comfort,  like  a  forsaken  woman:  "Thy 
Maker  is  thy  husband.  .  ,  .  For  a  small  moment 
have  I  forsaken  thee,  but  with  great  mercies  will 
I  gather  thee."  It  grew  old  and  feeble :  **  Gray 
hairs  are  upon  him,  .  .  .  and  he  knoweth  it  not." 
But  the  nation  could  not  die :  "  Shake  thyself  from 
the  dust;  arise,  sit  on  thy  throne,  O  Jerusalem." 

Attitude  of  Prophetism.  Such  vivid  conceptions 
are  not  mere  figures  of  speech.  To  the  Israelite 
his  nation  was  '*  one  huge  personage,"  chosen  of 
God,  called  out  of  Egypt,  led  through  the  wilder- 
ness, heir  of  all  the  promises.  The  individual  in 
the  Old  Testament  has  little  or  no  hope  of  immor- 
tality, but  his  nation  should  endure  forever.  **  The 
prophets,"  says  Professor  Walter  Rauschenbusch, 
''were  not  religious  individualists.  During  the 
classical  times  of  prophetism  they  always  dealt  with 
Israel  and  Judah  as  organic  totalities.  They  con- 
ceived of  their  people  as  a  gigantic  personality 
which  sinned  as  one  and  ought  to  repent  as  one.  .  .  . 
It  was  only  when  the  national  life  of  Israel  was 
crushed  by  foreign  invaders  that  the  prophets  be- 
gan to  address  themselves  to  the  individual  life 
and  lost  the  large  horizon  of  public  life."  ^ 

A  Defective  Conception.  If  we  to-day  should  ac- 
cept this  idea  of  a  nation  as  a  real  person,  our 

'  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  8. 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  7 

teachers  and  reformers  would  of  course  deal  mainly 
with  national  sin  and  national  redemption,  and  we 
should  place  small  emphasis  on  any  attempt  to  reach 
the  individual.  But  the  conception  is  obviously  de- 
fective. Neither  ancient  Greece  nor  ancient  Israel 
realized  the  meaning  and  value  of  the  individual 
personality.  Both  peoples  conceived  slavery  as  es- 
sential to  society;  both  merged  the  parts  of  society 
in  the  whole.  They  could  not  realize,  at  that  period, 
w^hat  Christianity  has  so  decisively  proclaimed, 

"  This  main  miracle,  that  '  I  am  I,' 
With  power  on  mine  own  act  and  on  the  v/orld." 

A  nation  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  person,  or  true 
organism  of  any  kind.  In  an  organism  like  the 
human  body,  or  like  a  vine  or  a  tree,  a  single  mem- 
ber is  not  an  individual.  A  leaf  plucked  from  the 
tree  cannot  live;  but  Robinson  Crusoe,  cast  out 
of  all  human  society,  can  still  live  on  his  lonely 
island.  A  single  member  of  the  human  body,  like 
an  eye  or  ear,  has  no  separate  consciousness,  no 
will  of  its  own,  no  responsibility  for  anything.  But 
a  single  member  of  society  is  in  himself  a  complete 
individual,  with  volitions,  hopes,  fears,  responsibili- 
ties as  real  as  if  there  were  no  other  man  alive. 
Hence  we  cannot  fully  accept  the  statement  that  so- 
ciety is  an  organism,  or  that  the  state  is  literally 
a  person,  and  religion  can  never  remit  its  effort  to 
reach  the  individual  personal  life. 

Social  Contract  Theory.    Under  the  influence  of 
a  complete  reaction  from  the  ancient  view  of  so- 


6  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

ciety  there  arose  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  the  so-called  ''  social  contract "  theory. 
Hobbes  and  John  Locke  in  England  and  Rousseau 
in  France  expounded  this  theory  and  spread  it 
through  Europe  and  America.  According  to  this 
extremely  individualistic  view,  society  is  merely  a 
contract  among  certain  persons.  Each  individual 
is  an  independent,  self-governing  being,  possessed 
of  certain  ''  natural  rights  "  which  cannot  be  taken 
from  him  except  by  his  consent.  Men  were  originally 
in  a  '*  state  of  nature,"  free  from  all  government, 
roaming  about  as  lions  roam  in  the  desert  or  eagles 
in  the  air.  Then  for  the  sake  of  mutual  advan- 
tages these  primitive  men  came  together  and  formed 
a  society,  each  member  surrendering  individual 
rights  in  return  for  a  share  in  common  benefits. 
Thus  every  society,  every  village  or  city  or  state, 
is  a  mutual  benefit  association,  based  on  a  contract 
voluntarily  made.  Thus  the  *' noble  red  man,"  the 
Iroquois  chief,  who  had  surrendered  few  or  none 
of  his  natural  rights,  seemed  to  Rousseau  a  far 
more  admirable  type  than  the  modern  city-dweller, 
absolutely  dependent  on  policemen,  firemen,  shop- 
keepers, and  middlemen  of  every  kind. 

Large  Place  in  History.  This  theory  of  social 
contract  has  played  a  great  part  in  modern  history, 
and  echoes  of  it  are  heard  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  The  "  consent  of  the  governed  " 
has  become  a  very  familiar  phrase  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  since  Admiral  Dewey's  victory 
in  Manila  Bay.     The  great  movement  of  modern 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  9 

democracy  has  made  the  will  of  the  people  the 
supreme  law.  And  the  popular  will  is  concerned 
not  only  with  protection  of  life  and  property,  but 
with  all  human  welfare.  Perhaps  the  noblest  de- 
scription of  society  as  a  compact  among  individuals 
was  given  by  Edmund  Burke,  when  he  said  of  the 
state :  "  It  is  a  partnership  in  all  science,  a  part- 
nership in  all  art,  a  partnership  in  every  virtue 
and  in  all  perfection." 

Now  Plainly  Inadequate.  But  can  the  citizen 
withdraw  from  such  a  partnership?  Surely  no  one 
would  affirm  that.  The  American  Civil  War  set- 
tled the  great  fact  that  America  is  more  than  a 
voluntary  association  of  sovereign  states — it  is  a 
**  union  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 
If  any  single  citizen,  whether  philosophical  anar- 
chist or  common  tramp,  should  decide  to  retire  from 
all  social  control,  society  with  a  strong  hand  would 
show  him  the  error  of  his  way.  Society  is  some- 
thing vastly  deeper  and  more  divine  than  a  mere 
agreement  based  on  selfish  advantage. 

Superficial.  The  theory  of  "  social  contract," 
which  has  fascinated  so  many  brilliant  minds,  is 
after  all  superficial.  It  leaves  men  essentially  "  dis- 
severed," if  not  "  discordant,  belligerent."  It  says 
nothing  of  the  deeper  unities  which  produce  the 
love  of  home  and  kindred  and  native  land. 
^  Third  Inclusive  Theory.  But  the  third  theory, 
which  may  perhaps  be  called  the  corporate  theory, 
contains  the  truth  that  the  other  two  theories  halt- 
ingly attempt  to  express.     It  affirms  that  there  is  a 


lO         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

real  analogy — not  identity — between  social  life  and 
animal  life.  As  society  is  a  real  unity  of  real  per- 
sons, the  whole  must  not  be  sacrificed  to  the  part, 
nor  must  the  part  be  sacrificed  to  the  whole.  Each 
develops  in  and  through  the  progress  of  the  other. 
While  the  individual  is  the  basis  of  society,  and  our 
primary  business  is  with  him,  yet  we  are  dealing 
also  with  a  collective  will  which  is  over  and  above 
all  the  little  individual  wills  that  compose  it.  Just 
as  the  tree  is  something  more  than  the  sum  of 
all  its  leaves  and  branches,  so  a  nation  is  more  than 
the  sum  of  all  its  citizens.  Just  as  a  human  body 
could  never  be  made  by  gluing  together  legs  and 
arms,  so  a  nation  can  never  be  produced  by  merely 
adding  up  separate  individuals  with  no  common 
purpose.  The  *'  social  mind "  is  a  vital  reality. 
The  "  psychology  of  the  crowd  "  has  taught  us  that 
a  mob  of  a  thousand  men  is  vastly  stronger  and 
more  cruel  than  a  thousand  men  acting  each  one 
alone.  A  congregation  of  a  thousand  worshipers 
on  Sunday  morning  will  rise  to  heights  of  devo- 
tion no  one  of  them  alone  could  attain.  When  we 
combine  chemical  atoms  in  a  test-tube  we  often 
get  an  entirely  new  substance.  When  men  unite  to 
form  a  true  church,  there  is  a  union  of  all  single 
personalities  in  the  larger  body,  there  springs  into 
being  a  new  social  consciousness,  a  corporate 
responsibility. 

Cities  Have  Character.  We  willingly  grant  that 
a  city  is  not  a  person.  But  we  are  also  sure  that 
a  city  is  not  a  list  of  names  in  a  directory,  or  a 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  ii 

hundred  thousand  separate  and  detached  individu- 
als, like  a  heap  of  rounded  pebbles  on  the  shore. 
A  city  has  a  cliaracter.  Athens  and  Sparta  in  an- 
cient Greece  were  only  a  hundred  miles  apart.  But 
the  two  cities  were  thousands  of  miles  asunder  in 
temper  and  ideal.  Each  of  those  two  city-states 
had  a  quality  of  its  own  which  spread  through  all 
its  citizens,  as  the  oak  has  a  quality  different  from 
that  of  a  maple,  and  diffuses  that  quality  through 
every  twig  and  bud.  There  were  doubtless  lonely 
saints  in  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  but  the  cities  as 
a  whole  were  "  wicked  and  sinners  against  Jehovah 
exceedingly."  There  were  doubtless  defiant  spirits 
in  Nineveh  when  the  prophet  Jonah  preached  there. 
It  was  the  city  which  put  on  sackcloth  and  ashes 
and  cried  ''  mightily  unto  God."  When  Jerusalem 
was  addressed  as  one  ''  that  killeth  the  prophets, 
and  stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her,"  we  can- 
not believe  that  Jesus  was  indulging  in  mere  poetic 
personification.  Jerusalem  had  acquired  a  charac- 
ter and  a  responsibility  of  its  own.  Individual 
saints  were  doubtless  found  there,  individual  minds 
were  open  to  light.  But  the  city  as  a  whole  had 
shut  its  eyes,  stopped  its  ears,  and  hurled  stones  at 
divine  messengers.  Therefore,  though  individuals 
should  be  saved,  the  city  should  be  trampled  down 
and  scattered  abroad. 

Consciousness  of  Community.  While  therefore 
we  cannot  admit  that  the  social  order  is  a  mere 
contract,  and  we  cannot  affirm  that  it  is  an  organ- 
ism, we  do  believe  that  human  lives  are  united  into 


12         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

a  "  social  tissue "  as  closely  related  as  the  cells 
which  make  up  a  living  tree  or  a  human  body.  Every 
human  life  is  the  offspring  of  the  great  human 
stock.  In  each  man  flows  the  blood  of  millions  of 
ancestors.  *'  I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met," 
said  the  much-traveled  Ulysses.  But  each  man  is 
part  of  millions  he  has  never  met,  millions  who 
lived  before  him;  in  whose  vital  blood  he  shares, 
whose  inventions  and  achievements  he  inherits. 
And  each  man  is  part  of  millions  around  him,  united 
with  them  all  by  a  ''  consciousness  of  kind,"  by 
sharing  in  common  hopes  and  fears  and  struggles. 
It  was  this  sense  of  the  union  of  the  individual  with 
his  social  order  that  led  Moses  to  the  audacious 
prayer:  "If  thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin — ;  and  if 
not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book." 

What  Was  Jesus*  Attitude?  What,  now,  was  the 
attitude  of  Jesus  toward  this  idea  of  corporate  ex- 
istence and  corporate  responsibility  which  pervades 
the  Old  Testament?  Was  the  message  of  Jesus 
primarily  an  individual  gospel,  or  was  it  a  social 
message?  Did  he  seek  only  the  rebirth  of  separate 
men  and  women,  leaving  to  other  teachers  all  ques- 
tions of  unity  and  fraternity  and  social  reconstruc- 
tion? Or  did  he  make  it  his  primary  aim  to  estab- 
lish a  divine  society,  in  which  each  individual  life 
might  find  fulfilment  and  nourishment  and  joy? 
No  more  weighty  question  can  be  asked  to-day  by 
Christian  men  and  women.  According,  to  our 
answer  will  be  our  modern  theory  of  life  and  our 
program  of  effort. 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  13 

Case  for  Individualism.  If  Jesus  is  our  spiritual 
master,  his  insight  in  such  a  matter  will  be  for  us 
conclusive  and  controlling.  If  we  believe  that  he 
sought  primarily  to  save  a  few  souls  from  a  wrecked 
world,  if  he  despaired  of  any  real  reign  of  God 
on  earth  and  sought  merely  to  rescue  individuals 
from  a  hopeless  social  order  and  transport  them 
to  heaven,  then  our  attitude  toward  all  reforms, 
charities,  governments  will  be  affected  profoundly 
by  our  belief.  A  Christianity  based  on  that  belief 
will  be  intense,  insistent,  devoted,  but  will  care 
little  for  social  and  political  changes,  and  wall  re- 
gard all  the  problems  of  child  labor,  better  housing 
for  the  poor,  improved  sanitation,  organized  char- 
ity, as  outside  the  true  sphere  of  Christian  effort. 
It  will  consistently  relegate  all  such  problems  to 
secular  organizations,  while  it  devotes  itself  to  the 
task  of  making  individual  Christian  disciples.  Re- 
cently an  active  Christian  woman,  being  asked  if 
her  church  maintained  a  kindergarten,  answered: 
"  Certainly  not ;  we  leave  all  such  modern  notions 
to  worldly  people,  while  we  preach  the  simple 
gospel." 

Case  for  Communal  Life.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
we  believe  that  Christ's  primary  desire  was  to  estab- 
lish a  new  social  and  spiritual  order  called  the  king- 
dom of  God,  that  the  Old  Testament  vision  of  a 
purified  and  saved  Israel  was  Christ's  vision  also, 
and  that  the  primitive  message  was  a  summons  into 
a  divine  fellowship,  then  such  a  belief  will  shape 
our  whole  attitude  toward  the  burning  questions  of 


14         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

our  day.  We  shall  then  hold  that  ''  nothing  which 
is  human  is  alien  "  to  the  Christian  Church.  We 
shall  supplement  the  evangelization  of  the  individual 
by  the  preaching  of  a  social  gospel.  We  shall  hold 
that  Christianity  is  concerned,  not  only  with  the 
transformation  of  single  lives,  but  with  the  crea- 
tion of  a  social  atmosphere  in  which  single  lives 
can  unfold  in  beauty  and  power.  We  shall  con- 
ceive that  our  aim  is  not  only  to  rescue  certain  souls 
from  a  wrecked  world,  but  to  save  the  wreck  it- 
self, repair  its  broken  spars,  and  send  it  on  a 
happier  voyage.  We  shall  hold  that  the  growth 
of  Christian  character  is  vitally  related  to  civic 
betterment,  to  medical  attendance,  to  intelligent 
philanthropy,  to  honest  public  service.  We  shall 
hold  that  the  good  seed  needs  the  good  soil,  that 
the  individual  Christian  needs  a  Christian  civili- 
zation around  him  if  he  is  to  ''  bring  forth  an  hun- 
dredfold "  in  moral  and  spiritual  achievement.  The 
character  of  the  whole  missionary  enterprise  is  ab- 
solutely dependent  on  our  answer  to  this  question. 
Christ's  Message  Primarily  Spiritual  and  Per- 
sonal. The  moment  we  open  the  New  Testament  we 
perceive  the  "  inwardness  "  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tian message.  This  at  least  is  clear — Jesus  was  no 
mere  political  or  social  reformer.  His  was  a  spir- 
itual, not  an  economic  message.  His  omissions  and 
silences  are  eloquent.  Clearly  he  aimed  primarily  at 
a  new  experience  rather  than  a  new  environment. 
He  was  concerned  chiefly,  not  with  the  symptoms, 
but  with  the  causes  of  human  sorrow  and  suffer- 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  15 

ing.  In  all  the  nations  around  Palestine  slavery 
was  well  established;  Christ  organized  no  revolt 
or  crusade  against  it.  Among  all  the  government 
officials  of  Palestine  corruption  flourished;  Christ 
hardly  seemed  to  notice  it.  On  the  throne  of  Judea 
was  intrigue  and  tyranny,  such  as  caused  John  the 
Baptist  to  cry  out  to  the  tyrant's  face :  "  It  is  not 
lawful."  But  Christ  had  deeper  tasks  on  hand  than 
publicly  rebuking  one  unlawful  marriage.  His 
great  work  was  a  revealing — unveiling — of  the 
spiritual  world.  He  revealed  the  character  of  God, 
and  portrayed  a  character  to  be  attained  by  men. 
Repentance,  faith,  love,  forgiveness,  prayer,  growth 
into  the  divine  image — these  things  lay  at  the  heart 
of  his  message.  An  inward  and  spiritual  change 
in  human  hearts  and  lives — this  was  the  immediate 
aim  of  every  word  Jesus  spoke  and  every  deed  he 
did.  The  great  cry,  "  Repent ! "  means  simply 
"  Change  your  mind !  "  Jesus  was  not  content  with 
a  change  of  clothes,  or  a  change  of  diet,  or  a  change 
of  rulers ;  his  demand  was  far  more  fundamental — 
a  change  of  mind.  He  refused  to  be  side-tracked 
into  petty  reforms;  he  declined  to  dissolve  religion 
into  what  we  now  call  sociology. 

But  He  Adds  the  Collective  Message.  Shall  we 
admit,  then,  that  Jesus  had  no  social  message  ?  On 
the  contrary,  all  his  message  is  throbbing  with  so- 
cial impulse,  all  his  life  is  aflame  with  social  pas- 
sion. In  him  was  achieved  the  synthesis  of  the  two 
great  impulses  of  our  human  nature.  For  him  the 
second  commandment  was  ''  like  unto  "  the  first, 


i6         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

and  the  two  great  laws,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  God," 
and,  ''Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor,"  were  sim- 
ply hemispheres  of  the  same  globe.  John  Bunyan 
wrote  his  Pilgrim  s  Progress  to  set  forth  the  ex- 
perience of  the  individual,  pressing  through  all 
dangers  and  forsaking  even  wife  and  child  that  he 
might  win  his  own  place  in  a  heavenly  city.  Then 
Bunyan  was  obliged  to  write  another  allegory  to 
set  forth  the  experience  of  a  family  group  journey- 
ing together  toward  the  distant  goal.  But  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  the  egoistic  and  the  altruistic 
exist  side  by  side,  disciples  swiftly  become  apostles, 
and  the  transformed  individual  begins  at  once  to 
transform  the  world  around  him. 

Jesus  as  Fulfiller.  Jesus  claimed  to  "  fulfil " — ta 
fill  full  of  meaning — the  ancient  law  and  the 
prophets.  But  all  Old  Testament  law  and  prophecy 
is  aglow  with  the  demand  for  social  justice.  The 
"  laws  of  Moses  "  are  full  of  care  for  the  father- 
less and  the  widow,  full  of  prohibitions  of  usury, 
monopoly,  oppression  of  wage-earners,  cheating  in 
trade,  and  land-grabbing.  Could  Jesus  fulfil  that 
law  if  he  cared  for  none  of  these  things?  The 
prophets  of  Israel  thundered  for  centuries  against 
licentiousness,  greed  of  gain,  the  ostentatious  lux- 
ury of  wealth,  the  exploitation  of  the  poor,  the  cor- 
ruption of  rulers,  and  religious  worship  divorced 
from  loving  human  service.  Could  Jesus  fulfil  the 
prophets  and  be  indifferent  to  these  things?  *'  Wo 
unto  them  that  decree  unrighteous  decrees,"  cried 
Isaiah    (Is.  x.    i).     "O  princes  of  Israel,"  cried 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  17 

Ezekiel  (Ezek.  xlv.  9),  "  remove  violence  and  spoil, 
and  execute  justice  and  righteousness;  take  away 
your  exactions  from  my  people,  saith  the  Lord 
Jehovah."  ''  The  prince  asketh,  and  the  judge  is 
ready  for  a  reward,"  said  Micah  (Mic.  vii.  3). 
"  Wo  unto  them,"  cried  Isaiah,  "  that  join  house 
to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be  no  room, 
and  ye  be  made  to  dwell  alone  in  the  midst  of  the 
land"  (Is.  V.  8).  Renan  calls  these  prophets 
socialists,  because  their  chief  demand  seemed  to 
him  to  be  for  a  radical  reconstruction  of  a  cruel 
social  order.  They  were  not  socialists;  they  had 
no  governmental  program.  But  they  were  patriots 
to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  They  blazed  w^th 
indignation  at  national  wrongs,  at  social  and  po- 
litical tyranny.  Can  we  believe  that  Jesus  fulfilled 
such  a  message  if  he  was  a  sheer  individualist,  in- 
different to  poverty  and  slavery  and  oppression? 
Can  we  believe  that  all  the  great  shining  vision  of 
the  whole  Old  Testament  collapsed  at  the  birth  of 
Jesus,  and  that  he,  despairing  of  the  world,  merely 
showed  men  how  to  get  out  of  it  into  a  jasper  city 
with  golden  streets? 

Ideals  of  Social  Order.  Every  great  leader  of 
men  has  had  some  vision  of  a  fairer  social  order 
than  any  yet  seen.  To  Plato  it  was  a  ''  Republic," 
where  "  all  magistrates  should  be  philosophers  and 
all  philosophers  magistrates."  To  Augustine  it  was 
a  "  City  of  God,"  rising  on  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
empire.  To  Sir  Thomas  More  it  was  a  "  Utopia," 
where  gold  should  be  used  for  the  fetters  of  crimi- 


i8         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

nals  and  jewels  should  be  but  children's  toys.  To 
Jesus  it  was  the  Kingdom  of  God.  In  the  center  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer  he  set  the  petition :  "  Thy  king- 
dom come."  Nearly  every  one  of  his  parables  be- 
gins: "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like."  Those 
parables  not  only  draw  their  illustrations  from  daily 
social  life,  but  most  of  them  deal  simply  with  man's 
duty  to  his  fellow  men.  The  story  of  the  Good 
Samaritan  anticipates  many  of  the  methods  of  our 
most  advanced  philanthropy.  Personal  knowledge 
("he  came  where  he  was"),  medical  attendance 
("bound  up  his  wounds"),  the  use  of  permanent 
institutions  ("  he  brought  him  to  an  inn  "),  coopera- 
tion (he  said  to  the  landlord,  "  Take  care  of  him  "), 
persistent  interest  ("  when  I  come  back  again  "), — 
all  these  methods  of  modern  social  helpfulness  are 
imbedded  in  that  simple  story. 

Meaning  of  His  Miracles.  And  the  miracles  of 
Christ  are  a  part  of  the  preaching  of  Christ.  They 
were  not  a  nine  days'  wonder.  They  were  not  the 
"  ringing  of  the  bell  "  to  induce  people  to  hear  the 
sermon.  They  were  the  sermon  itself — since  ac- 
tions speak  louder  than  v/ords.  If  we  count  the 
recorded  miracles  of  Christ  as  thirty-two  in  num- 
ber, twenty-six  of  them  are  miracles  of  healing 
of  the  body,  and  two  more  are  the  supplying  of 
bodily  food.  Such  a  record  hardly  justifies  the 
charge  of  "  other-worldliness  "  ! 

His  Social  Teaching  and  Spirit.  Three  quarters 
of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  has  to  do  with  the  relations 
of  men  to  one  another.    He  himself  was  no  recluse. 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  19 

but  a  social  being,  enjoying  the  wedding  feast  and 
the  dinner  in  the  Pharisee's  house.  The  scandalous 
accusation  of  being  "  a  gluttonous  man  and  a  wine- 
bibber  "  could  never  have  been  brought  against  any 
Old  Testament  prophet,  or  against  the  apostle  Paul ; 
but  it  was  freely  made  against  Jesus,  because  of  his 
overflowing  social  sympathy.  He  called  his  disci- 
ples out  of  the  world  only  that  he  might  send 
them  back  into  the  W'Orld.  His  "  Come  unto  me  " 
was  swiftly  followed  by  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world." 
His  disciples  were  to  be  like  leaven  diffused  through- 
out the  whole  lump  of  civilization ;  like  salt,  sprin- 
kled and  permeating,  giving  flavor  and  zest  to  the 
entire  earth.  We  do  Christ  great  wrong  if  we 
imagine  that  because  he  gave  himself  to  the  enuncia- 
tion of  great  principles,  therefore  he  had  no  in- 
terest in  their  practical  application  to  life.  He  had 
less  than  three  years  to  work  in,  and  all  he  could 
do  in  that  time  was  to  plant  in  human  consciousness 
certain  germinating  ideas  which  his  disciples  must 
develop  and  apply.  True,  he  never  concerned  him- 
self with  a  runaway  slave,  as  did  Paul  in  the  case 
of  Onesimus.  But  it  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus  regard- 
ing the  brotherhood  of  man  that  has  made  slavery 
odious  to  the  modern  world.  True,  he  never  laid 
down  rules  for  "  first  aid  to  the  injured,"  but  the 
desire  to  aid  all  weaker  members  of  society  is 
largely  his  gift,  and  desire  is  always  more  important 
than  rules  or  program. 

Social  Temper  of  the  Early  Church.     And  the 
moment  we  open  the  Book  of  Acts  and  the  Epistles 


20         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

we  see  that  primitive  Christianity  was  a  social 
movement.  In  the  life  there  depicted  an  isolated 
disciple  is  inconceivable.  They  ''  had  all  things 
common," — not  only  a  common  faith  and  hope  and 
zeal,  but  common  property  also.  Within  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem  private  property  largely  disappeared, 
and  community  of  goods  was  the  rule.  The  early 
Church  was  not  only  a  prayer-meeting,  but  a  mu- 
tual benefit  association.  Its  members  were  not  only 
''  saved  from  the  wrath,"  but  they  were  insured 
against  poverty  and  sickness  by  the  organization 
which  they  joined.  There  was  a  sharing  of  pos- 
sessions as  well  as  of  ideals.  The  first  official  ac- 
tion of  the  Church  after  Pentecost  was  the  choice 
of  seven  men  ''  over  this  business  " — the  intelligent 
care  of  the  poor.  Organized  relief  of  poverty  in 
Jerusalem  preceded  all  attempts  at  the  formulation 
of  Christian  truth. 

Social  Climax  of  the  Epistles.  In  almost  every 
New  Testament  Epistle,  while  the  first  part  deals 
with  some  Christian  truth,  the  last  part  of  the  writ- 
ing deals  wholly  with  social  rights  and  duties — 
the  stout  stem  of  doctrine  blossoming  out  into  prac- 
tical ethics.  The  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  are 
addressed  to  the  "  wickedest  city  of  the  ancient 
world,"  and  there  is  hardly  a  form  of  social  evil 
they  do  not  discuss.  The  regulation  of  marriage, 
the  lawfulness  of  divorce,  the  duties  of  parents  and 
children,  the  Christian  view  of  law-courts  and  liti- 
gation, the  Christian  attitude  toward  feasts  and 
festivals,  even  woman's  dress  and  coiffure — these 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  21 

are  a  few  of  the  subjects  which  the  writer  treats 
with  utmost  frankness.  In  other  letters  the  apostle 
discusses  respect  for  magistrates,  obedience  to  law, 
the  payment  of  taxes,  honesty  in  financial  transac- 
tions, the  duty  of  self-support,  the  relation  of  mas- 
ter and  slave.  No  modern  treatise  on  social  sci- 
ence is  more  obviously  and  directly  concerned  with 
social  obligations  and  abuses  of  every  kind  than 
are  those  New  Testament  letters  which  set  forth 
Christ  as  the  Master  of  mankind. 

Primitive  Union  of  Faith  and  Ethics.  Primitive 
Christianity  knew  no  separation  between  religion 
and  ethics,  between  a  good  heart  and  a  good  life. 
It  put  spiritual  ends  first,  but  it  could  not  conceive 
a  spiritual  impulse  which  was  not  also  a  social  im^ 
pulse.  "  Whoever  uncouples  the  social  and  the  re- 
ligious life  has  not  understood  Jesus."  ^  A  saint 
cannot  live  in  a  vacuum.  The  reconstructed  single 
life  at  once  begins  to  reconstruct  the  whole  life 
around  him,  and  to  make  goodness  easier  for  all 
who  come  after  him.  To  say  that  we  are  not  con- 
cerned with  environment  or  heredity,  but  only  with 
individual  experience,  is  not  only  to  flout  the  teach- 
ing of  science,  but  to  ignore  large  sections  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  teaching  of  Christian 
history. 

God  Not  Apart  from  Nature.  A  certain  man  of 
intense  but  narrow  vision  recently  said :  ''  I  have  no 
use  for  what  you  call  eugenics;  if  a  man  is  born 
again,  it  makes  no  difference  who  his  father  and 

*  Rauschenbusch,   Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  48. 


22         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

mother  were  or  how  they  lived."  Such  a  view  to- 
tally ignores  the  value  of  the  home  and  of  Chris- 
tian education.  It  has  no  place  for  **  the  faith  which 
dwelt  in  thy  grandmother  Lois  and  thy  mother 
Eunice."  It  cuts  the  bond  between  parent  and  child, 
and  defies  the  laws  of  God  in  the  name  of  Chris- 
tian faith.  Such  a  man  cannot  oppose  the  saloon 
and  the  brothel,  since  these  are  merely  the  ''  environ- 
ment." He  cannot  protest  that  the  sensual  indul- 
gence of  parents  will  entail  suffering  on  their  chil- 
dren, since  the  children  can  always  escape  through 
the  new  birth.  He  cannot  work  against  tubercu- 
losis and  typhoid,  since  *'  the  prayer  of  faith  shall 
save  him  that  is  sick."  To  such  a  man  nature  and 
God  are  forever  in  opposition. 

Modern  Christianity's  Return  to  Type.  But  mod- 
ern Christianity  is  rapidly  recovering  the  social 
impulse  of  its  earliest  days.  It  is  glowing  once 
again  with  the  old  fire.  The  fatalist — whether  he 
wear  the  garments  of  materialism  or  of  predestina- 
tion— does  not  count  in  the  forward  march  of  the 
Christian  army  to-day.  The  Church  is  convinced 
that  a  Christianity  which  does  not  go  about  "  doing 
good  "  is  not  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  A  religion 
which  ignores  the  healing  of  the  body  is  not  the 
religion  of  him  who  *'  took  our  infirmities,  and 
iDare  our  diseases."  A  religion  which  ignores  child 
labor  and  child  mortality  is  not  the  religion  of  him 
who  took  the  children  in  his  arms.  A  religion  which 
has  nothing  to  say  about  vice  and  crime  in  the 
modern  city  cannot  claim  kinship  with  the  pov;er 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  23 

that  speaks  out  in  the  great  apostolic  letters  to 
Corinth  and  Rome  and  Ephesus.  A  faith  that 
merely  hopes  the  will  of  God  will  be  done  in  heaven, 
as  it  is  not  on  earth,  is  not  the  faith  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

Social  Note  Must  Be  in  the  Simple  Gospel. 
Hence  the  presentation  of  the  social  message  of 
Christianity  is  a  vital  part  of  the  "  simple  gospel." 
The  cry  "  Repent  "  is  forever  ineffective  unless  it 
be  followed  by  the  passionate  faith  that  the  "  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand."  To  make  the  streets 
of  the  modern  city  safe  by  the  suppression  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  to  shut  up  the  criminal  resort,  to 
abolish  graft  in  public  officials,  to  circulate  whole- 
some literature,  is  as  truly  Christian  work  as  to 
conduct  public  worship.  To  plant  and  develop  Chris- 
tian schools,  to  erect  hospitals  or  send  nurses  into 
homes  of  the  poor,  to  teach  the  blind  and  the  deaf, 
to  open  homes  for  the  aged,  to  do  all  those  things 
which  create  a  Christian  atmosphere  is  part  of  the 
preaching  of  the  simple  gospel.  That  gospel  al- 
ways strikes  inward,  producing  a  personal  and  in- 
dividual experience;  but  it  always  flows  outward, 
transforming  the  tone  and  temper  of  those  "  insti- 
tutions which  are  but  the  shadows  of  men."  Chris- 
tianity is  never  self-contained.  "  My  cup  runneth 
over  "  was  the  ancient  experience.  If  the  cup  does 
not  run  over,  it  has  not  been  divinely  filled.  If 
the  individual  experience  does  not  create  any  change 
in  home  or  school  or  village  or  city,  it  is  mere 
indulgence  in  pious  emotion. 


24         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Not  as  Bait  but  Real  Element.  But  we  must  be 
careful  that  we  do  not  use  Christian  philanthropy 
as  mere  "  bait "  to  catch  men.  In  some  quarters 
social  relief  has  been  used  merely  to  attract  hear- 
ers, with  the  purpose  of  dropping  the  relief  as 
soon  as  a  congregation  is  secured.  But  there  is 
always  danger  in  concealing  our  real  intention.  If 
we  offer  bread  to  hungry  men  merely  to  induce 
them  to  enter  a  ''  mission  "  and  hear  a  sermon,  we 
are  on  the  perilous  verge  of  insincerity.  Converts 
made  by  such  methods  are  called  in  India  "  rice- 
Christians,"  and  when  the  rice  ceases,  the  convert 
may  disappear.  We  should  protest  against  any 
hiding  of  motive,  any  attempt  to  entrap  men  into 
listening  to  a  message.  If  we  offer  bread,  it  is 
because  feeding  the  hungry  is  a  Christly  act;  if 
we  clothe  the  naked  it  is  not  with  veiled  purpose, 
but  because  such  clothing  is  an  essential  part  of 
the  creation  of  character.  We  are  to  save  the 
entire  personality  of  men — body,  soul,  and  spirit; 
mind,  might,  and  strength. 

Experience  Bears  Social  Fruit.  Those  forms 
of  Christian  effort  which  have  placed  most  vital 
emphasis  on  the  Christian  experience  have  never 
stopped  there.  The  most  fervid  calls  to  personal 
righteousness  and  the  most  profound  realization 
of  inward  change  have  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
always  been  followed  by  far-reaching  social  con- 
sequences. In  this  respect  the  Christian  preacher 
has  proved  himself  the  direct  descendant  of  the 
Old  Testament  prophet.     The   followers  of  John 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  25 

Calvin  at  Geneva,  of  Wyclif  in  England,  of  Huss 
and  Zwingli  in  Germany,  of  John  Robinson  and 
Miles  Standish  in  America,  were  all  driven  by 
their  overmastering  vision  of  God  to  attempt 
vital  changes  in  the  structure  of  society,  or  the 
planting  of  entirely  new  societies  in  distant  lands. 
Demonstrated  in  Wesley  an  Revival.  English 
Methodism  was  one  of  the  most  fervid  and  heart- 
searching  religious  movements  in  modern  history. 
No  one  ever  accused  John  Wesley  of  diluting 
Christianity  into  mere  "  mutual  helpfulness."  But 
the  movement  which  he  started  had  pro  founder 
social  results  than  all  the  laws  passed  by  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  in  John  Wesley's  lifetime.  "  In 
the  progress  of  the  revival,"  says  Professor  Wil- 
liam North  Rice,^  "  the  public  mind  was  awakened 
to  a  profound  sympathy  with  the  oppressed  and  the 
degraded.  This  '  enthusiasm  of  humanity  '  soon 
worked  a  reformation  in  that  murderous  penal  code 
which  had  served,  not  to  curb,  but  to  render  more 
ferocious  the  evil  passions  of  man.  John  Howard 
was  the  friend  of  John  Wesley,  and  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged the  inspiration  received  from  Wesley's 
words  and  life.  His  noble  career  of  philanthropy 
was  an  expression  of  one  phase  of  the  spirit  of  the 
great  revival.  The  legislative  reforms  by  which  the 
physical  and  moral  welfare  of  the  poor  and  the 
helpless  has  been  protected  against  the  greed  of 
capital  and  the  temptations  of  vice,  the  regulation 
of  hours  and  conditions  of  labor,  the  safeguarding 
^  North  American  Reviezv,  June,  1913. 


26         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  those  engaged  in  perilous  occupations,  the  re- 
striction of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  are 
among  the  fruits  of  the  philanthropic  spirit  which 
sprang  to  life  in  the  great  religious  revival.  The 
'  good  men  of  Clapham '  not  only  organized  Bible 
and  tract  and  missionary  societies,  but  achieved  the 
suppression  of  the  African  slave-trade  and  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  English  colonies.  Their 
influence  v^as  felt  in  multitudinous  minor  reforms 
in  industrial,  social,  and  political  life.  The  last 
letter  written  by  the  trembling  hand  of  John  Wesley, 
the  aged,  was  a  letter  of  encouragement  to  William 
Wilberforce  in  his  struggle  against  slavery." 

Social  Effort  Used  by  the  Churches.  In  recent 
years  all  Christian  Churches  have  been  placing  re- 
newed emphasis  on  neglected  forms  of  social  effort. 
The  modern  sensitiveness  to  human  suffering,  the 
striking  applications  of  science  to  the  relief  of 
human  pain,  the  modern  inventions  which  have 
brought  all  lives  into  close  contact  for  weal  or  wa; 
— all  these  things  have  produced  a  wave  of  altruistic 
sentiment  that  is  sweeping  round  the  world.  That 
feeling  has  swept  in  a  great  tide  through  the  Chris- 
tian Churches  and  expressed  itself  in  many  new 
organizations  and  methods.  The  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  has  established  a  Federation  for  Social 
Service,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  the 
Baptists  have  Social  Service  Commissions,  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  its  Bureau  of  Social 
Service.  The  Salvation  Army,  organized  for 
direct  and   fervent  evangelism,  has  found  it  nee- 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  2^ 

essary,  in  order  to  interpret  its  message  and  to 
conserve  results,  to  establish  philanthropic  institu- 
tions throughout  the  world.  Its  shelters  and  lodg- 
ing-houses, its  supplies  of  food  and  medicine  and 
clothing  and  employment  have  spoken  in  a  universal 
language  that  none  can  gainsay  or  resist.  The 
Army  has  discovered  that  the  new^  spiritual  life  in 
the  soul  of  man  must  have  a  nev^  environment  or  be 
suffocated  in  the  stifling  air  of  the  slums. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  Standard.  The  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  was  organized  for  the  direct  pur- 
pose of  bringing  young  men  into  allegiance  to  the 
Christian  faith.  In  that  high  purpose  it  has  never 
wavered.  But  with  keen  insight  and  consummate 
skill  it  has  uttered  its  message  not  only  by  word  of 
mouth,  not  only  through  the  printed  page,  but 
through  evening  classes  for  all  kinds  of  study, 
through  reading-rooms  and  gymnasiums  and  swim- 
ming pools,  through  indoor  games  and  outdoor 
sports,  through  social  parlors  and  rented  chambers, 
— through  all  honest  means  of  upbuilding  a  well- 
rounded  type  of  Christian  manhood. 

Social  Reform  Recognized  by  the  Churches.  The 
Churches  of  to-day  are  studying  as  never  before 
the  moral  and  spiritual  effects  of  our  modern  in- 
dustrial system.  When  the  church  has  the  man 
for  two  hours  a  week,  and  the  factory  has  him 
fifty-four  hours,  the  church  cannot  afford  to  ig- 
nore the  moral  results  of  the  factory  system. 
When  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ, 
representing  over  eighteen  million  Christians  in  the 


28         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

United  States,  met  for  the  first  time  in  1908,  it 
struck  a  new  note  in  its  frank  declaration :  ''  We 
deem  it  the  duty  of  all  Christian  people  to  con- 
cern themselves  directly  with  certain  practical  in- 
dustrial problems.  .  .  .  The  Church  does  not  stand 
for  the  present  social  order,  but  only  for  so  much 
of  it  as  accords  with  the  principles  laid  down  by 
Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  Christ  is  final  authority  in  the 
social  as  in  the  individual  life." 

Edinburgh  Conference  Statement.  Two  years 
later,  at  the  great  Edinburgh  Conference,  the  same 
broad  vision  of  the  scope  of  Christian  effort  was 
presented  by  Commission  I  in  its  report :  "  The 
evangelization  of  Africa  means  something  more 
than  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  into  existing 
forms  of  social  life.  It  means  the  introduction 
of  education  and  letters,  of  agriculture  and  indus- 
tries, of  Christian  marriage  and  due  recognition  of 
the  sanctity  of  human  life  and  property.  The  prob- 
lem before  the  Church  is  the  creation  of  an  African 
civilization."  ^ 

The  Value  of  Christian  Environment.  In  vivid 
language  Dr.  Axenfeld  of  the  Berlin  Missionary 
Society  has  set  forth  the  situation  of  an  isolated 
Christian  man  enmeshed  in  a  non-Christian  civiliza- 
tion :  "  A  golden  bridge  was  built  for  every  one 
of  us  (in  Christian  lands)  before  we  opened  our 
eyes,  and  when  we  resolved  to  become  Christians, 
we  simply  followed  the  tendencies  of  our  situation. 

1  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol.  I,  Carrying  the  Gos- 
pel, 206. 


Relation  of  Individual  to  Society  29 

.  .  .  The  Christian  convert  on  the  mission  field 
finds  his  language  is  not  yet  Christianized  to  be  a 
suitable  organ  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  wishes  to  be, 
and  should  be,  a  good  member  of  his  tribe  or  his 
state,  but  it  is  impossible  while  his  tribe  or  state  is 
ruled  by  antichristian  rulers  and  tendencies.  As  a 
Christian  in  a  non-Christian  country  he  cannot,  as 
a  rule,  be  even  a  good  member  of  his  family.  Con- 
version is  only  a  beginning.  ...  To  build  the 
golden  bridge  of  Christian  feeling  and  thinking,  of 
Christian  literature  and  education.  Christianized 
art  and  Christianized  science.  Christianized  law 
and  Christianized  public  opinion,  in  the  wide  world, 
is  our  common  work."  ^ 

Test  for  Foreign  Missionary  Enterprise.  Has 
the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  hitherto  included 
these  magnificent  and  far-reaching  aims?  Has  it 
sought  in  the  great  mass  of  non-Christian  civiliza- 
tion to  draw  out  a  few  souls  into  the  light  of  West- 
ern Christianity,  or  has  it  carried  the  light  far  and 
wide  until  entire  civilizations  have  been  irradiated? 
Is  it  now  seeking  only  to  rescue,  or  also  to  plant? 
Is  it  attempting  to  separate  men  from  non-Christian 
country  and  kindred,  or  is  it  attempting  to  ''  Chris- 
tianize the  Asiatic  consciousness  ?  "  In  the  follow- 
ing chapters  we  shall  seek  to  answer  these  ques- 
tions. 

'  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol.  I,  Carrying  the  Gos- 
pel, 422. 


TYPES  OF  SOCIAL  ORDER  IN  THE 
EAST  AND  THE  WEST 


The  moral  ideal  of  the  classical  world  was  a  political  or  social 
ideal,  that  of  the  modern  world  is  individualistic.  To  the  Greek, 
whether  he  was  philosopher  or  not,  all  the  interests  of  life  were 
summed  up  in  those  of  citizenship;  he  had  no  sphere  of  'private 
morality.'  If  modern  theory  and  practise  are  defective,  it  is  in 
the  opposite  extreme.  The  modern  ethical  standpoint  has  been  that 
of  the  individual  life.  This  change  of  standpoint  is  mainly  the 
result  of  the  acceptance  of  the  Christian  principle  of  the  infinite 
value  of  the  individual  as  a  moral  person,  of  what  we  might  almost 
call  the  Christian  discovery  of  the  significance  of  personality.  The 
isolation  of  the  moral  individual  has  been  made  only  too  absolute; 
the  principle  of  mere  individualism  is  as  inadequate  as  the  prin- 
ciple   of    mere    citizenship, 

— James    Seth. 

According  to  the  Christian  view,  the  true  end  is  neither  the 
individual  alone  nor  society  alone,  but  full  development  and  reali- 
zation of  the  individual  in  society.  Extensively,  society  is  more 
important  than  the  individual,  since  it  is  only  in  society  that  we 
find  a  term  comprehensive  enough  to  describe  God's  plan.  In- 
tensively, the  reverse  is  the  case,  since  that  which  gives  worth  to 
society  is  that  it  is  the  training  school  of  individual  character. 
It  is  because  of  this  reciprocal  relation  that  Jesus,  though  an  in- 
dividual, can  reveal  to  us  the  true  social  ideal.  Narrow  as  was  the 
stage  on  which  he  lived,  his  dealings  with  the  men  with  whom  he 
was  brought  in  contact  manifest  the  spirit  which  should  characterize 
the    relations   of   all    men    everywhere. 

— William   Adams    Brown. 


CHAPTER  II 

TYPES  OF  SOCIAL  ORDER  IN  THE  EAST 
AND  THE  WEST 

A  Wide-open  World.  The  world  of  to-day  is  a 
wide-open  world — wide-open  both  to  travelers  and 
to  ideas.  The  traveler,  whether  tourist,  trader,  or 
missionary,  is  now  for  the  first  time  in  human  his- 
tory free  to  visit  almost  every  land  on  the  globe.  Of 
course  there  are  impassable  deserts  and  mountain 
ranges,  there  are  frozen  steppes  and  primeval  for- 
ests and  impenetrable  jungles,  where  travel  is  ex- 
ceedingly dangerous  or  quite  impossible.  But 
there  are  only  two  cities  in  the  world  from  which 
travelers  are  still  excluded — Mekka,  the  sacred  city 
of  Mohammedanism,  and  Lassa,  the  Buddhist  cen- 
ter and  forbidden  city  of  Tibet.  Barriers  that 
were  impassable  to  Alexander  and  to  Napoleon, 
walls  that  shut  out  the  crusaders  and  the  medieval 
Turks,  have  crumbled  and  vanished,  and  lands 
where  fifty  years  ago  the  white  man  never  ven- 
tured except  on  peril  of  his  life  are  now  open  to 
every  tourist  from  Europe  and  America. 

Open  to  Ideas.  This  modern  world  is  open  not 
only  to  travelers,  but  to  the  penetration  of  new 
ideas  and  ideals.  The  words  Whittier  wrote  at  the 
laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable  were  poetic  rhapsody 

33 


34         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

then,  but   have  been  acquiring  a  deeper  meaning 
every  year  since. 


'  For  lo,  the  fall  of  ocean's  wall, 
Space   mocked  and   time   outrun; 

And  round  the  world  the  thought  of  all 
Is  as  the  thought  of  one." 


The  swift  mail  steamers,  the  ever-growing  net- 
work of  steel  rails,  the  electric  cables  that  thread 
the  seas,  have  given  the  world,  as  it  were,  a  new 
nervous  system,  and  have  enabled  all  civilized  na- 
tions to  receive  news  simultaneously  and  to  throb 
with  the  same  emotion  at  the  same  instant.  An 
international  event,  like  the  death  of  the  Japanese 
emperor,  Mutsuhito,  or  the  sinking  of  the  Titanic 
in  mid-ocean,  awakens  a  responsive  thrill  around 
the  globe.  A  speech  in  the  English  parliament  is 
often  read  a  few  hours  later  in  Egypt  and  China, 
and — owing  to  the  difference  in  time — a  few  hours 
earlier  in  New  York  and  Boston.  The  act  of  Gen- 
eral Nogi,  in  committing  suicide  after  the  death  of 
his  emperor,  was  flashed  through  the  Orient  and 
Occident,  and  his  reasons  were  discussed  in  every 
American  city.  The  utterance  of  John  Hay  regard- 
ing the  *'  open  door "  was  pondered  in  every 
Oriental  city  from  Bombay  to  Peking,  and  the  de- 
mand of  some  English  women  for  political  rights 
has  echoed  through  the  harems  of  Cairo  and  the 
zenanas  of  Calcutta.  The  world  has  become  a 
huge  whispering-gallery,  where  a  single  voice  may 
wake  tremendous  echoes.     No  man  lives  to  him- 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  35 

self,  but  what  he  speaks  in  the  ear  is  proclaimed 
from  housetops. 

Impact  of  Occident  on  Orient.  But  the  impact 
of  Western  ideas  on  Eastern  life  is  shattering  many 
conceptions  on  which  Eastern  life  is  built.  Ameri- 
can and  European  ideals  are  now  permeating  the 
Farther  East,  with  results  in  some  cases  good,  in 
others  evil,  but  in  all  cases  far-reaching  and  mo- 
mentous. What  is  the  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween the  structure  of  society  in  Europe  and 
America  and  that  in  Asia  and  Africa? 

Western  Individualism  and  Liberty.  Our  West- 
ern lands  have  been  for  centuries  founded  on  the 
principle  of  individualism.  Personality,  freedom, 
civil  liberty,  self-government — these  have  been  the 
w^atchwords  of  Western  lands  from  the  age  of 
Cromwell  and  Luther  down  to  the  age  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  "  primacy  of  the  person  "  has  marked 
all  Western  civilization.  Freedom  to  believe,  to 
act,  to  achieve,  has  been  the  heritage  of  the  "  rest- 
less, striving,  doing  Aryan."  The  Greeks  made  man 
''  the  measure  of  all  things."  Ever  since  the  Euro- 
pean Renaissance  the  Greek  traits  of  curiosity,  in- 
terrogation, self-assertion,  self-realization,  have 
marked  the  European  peoples.  The  whole  move- 
ment of  society,  as  Sir  Henry  Maine  pointed  out, 
has  been  ''  from  status  to  contract " — from 
inherited  social  position  to  the  voluntary  grouping 
of  men  according  to  their  personal  choice.  The 
English  Revolution  of  1688,  the  American  Revolu- 
tion of  1776,  the  French  Revolution  of  1789,  are 


36         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

simply  stages  in  the  great  Western  emancipation  of 
the  individual.  The  struggle  of  Crown  and  Com- 
mons in  England  is  the  tragedy  and  the  glory  of 
English  history. 

Extreme  Independent  Type  in  America.  The 
American  people  have  gone  much  further  than 
their  British  forbears  in  this  self-assertion  of  the 
individual.  They  started  out  v^ith  the  declaration 
that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal.  Their 
fathers  were  men  of  a  daring  and  disobedient  breed. 
Naturally  the  men  who  crossed  the  sea  in  the  early 
perilous  days  were  men  of  pluck  and  audacity. 
''  The  colonists  were  more  self-reliant  than  even 
the  original  self-reliant  British  stock,  since,  broadly 
speaking,  only  selected  men  essayed  the  ocean  jour- 
ney." ^  They  were  flung  out  from  Europe  by 
revolts,  and  in  them  individualism  was  doubly  ac- 
cented and  developed.  They  were  mainly  Protes- 
tants, in  w^hose  ears  w^as  ringing  Luther's  cry: 
''  Here  stand  I ;  I  can  do  no  other !  "  They  were 
men  of  aggressive,  achieving  temper,  descendants 
of  the  Vikings  and  the  Normans,  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  and  Sir  Francis  Drake.  They  were  sailors 
and  soldiers,  adventurers,  explorers,  conquerors, 
loving  the  salt  air  of  the  ocean  and  braving  the 
depths  of  the  virgin  forest.  Their  children  became 
the  *'  embattled  farmers  "  of  Lexington,  and  the 
whalers  of  New  Bedford,  and  the  explorers  of  the 
Mississippi  valley.  The  struggle  with  a  harsh  north- 
ern climate,  and  often  a  reluctant  soil,  only  made 
*W.  E.  Weyl,  The  New  Democracy,  37. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  37 

them  more  virile  and  dauntless.  Many  of  the 
greatest  men  in  America  were  pioneers  and  back- 
woodsmen. Even  when  they  brought  with  them 
European  culture,  they  were  uncompromising  indi- 
vidualists. The  founders  of  commonwealths,  like 
Roger  Williams  and  William  Penn,  the  great 
explorers  like  Fremont  and  Marcus  Whitman,  the 
great  inventors  like  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  and  Eli 
Whitney,  were  men  who  dared  to  stand  alone.  They 
learned  to  face  the  whole  world  unterrified.  They 
had  only  "  heart  within  and  God  o'erhead."  They 
had  been  sifted  out  of  their  generation  by  hard 
experience,  and  they  v/ere  men  of  large  hori- 
zons, free  movements,  and  indomitable  will.  ''  In 
blood  and  bone  the  Western  man  is  the  individu- 
alist." ' 

Eastern  Solidarity.  But  in  all  Oriental  civiliza- 
tion we  find  a  social  structure  wholly  different.  We 
find  everywhere  cohesion,  solidarity,  the  individual 
completely  subordinate  to  the  society  of  which  he 
is  a  part.  In  place  of  self-assertion  we  find  pas- 
sivity, in  place  of  resistance  to  tyrants  we  find 
patient  submission  to  fate,  in  place  of  progress  we 
find  aversion  to  any  change.  Instead  of  restless, 
eager  ambition  to  climb  out  of  the  condition  in 
which  one  is  born,  we  find  the  stratification  of  so- 
ciety into  immovable  layers.  Instead  of  glorifying 
the  man  of  action  and  self-assertion,  the  East  hon- 
ors the  man  of  contemplation  and  self-denial. 
Indeed  the  teachers  of  the  East  have  until  recently 
*  E.  A.  Ross,  Social  Control,  8. 


38         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

looked  with  amused  contempt  on  our  restless  West- 
ern striving. 

"  The  East  bowed  low  before  the  blast 
In   patient   deep   disdain; 
She  let  the  legions  thunder  past, 
Then  plunged  in  thought  again." 

Scarcely  Due  to  Physical  Surroundings.  To  dis- 
cuss the  causes  of  this  age-long  difference  might 
lead  us  far  aheld.  It  cannot  be  due  merely  to  dif- 
ference of  race,  since  the  Brahman  is  as  truly  of 
Aryan  descent  as  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Is  it  due  to 
the  tropical  climate,  relaxing,  enervating,  and  at 
times  prohibiting  physical  exertion?  Yet  Japan,  the 
most  cohesive  of  modern  nations,  does  not  lie  in 
the  tropics.  Is  it  due  to  the  terrific  natural  phe- 
nomena of  Asia  and  Africa,  to  the  typhoons  and 
floods  and  famines  and  volcanic  eruptions  which 
overawe  puny  man  and  make  him  shrink  into  con- 
scious insignificance?  Is  it  due  to  the  sight  of  the 
vast  deserts,  the  inhospitable  mountain  ranges  that 
constitute  the  ''  roof  of  the  world,"  and  the  tree- 
less steppes  that  crush  man's  ambition  by  their  very 
size  and  solitude?  We  who  hold  that  God  has  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth  cannot  believe  that  these  differences 
between  East  and  West  have  always  been  so 
striking. 

Cause  May  be  Historical.  Two  thousand, — 
even  one  thousand — years  ago  the  opposition  was 
far  less,  or  practically  non-existent.     The  apostle 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  39 

Paul  seemed  unconscious  of  any  great  change 
of  atmosphere  when  he  crossed  the  Aegean  Sea, 
and  passed  from  Asia  into  Europe.  His  message 
to  the  Ephesians  of  Asia  Minor  is  not  very  differ- 
ent from  his  message  to  the  Philippians  of  Europe. 
The  writers  of  the  early  Christian  centuries, 
whether  Roman  or  Christian,  seem  unconscious  of 
any  contradiction  between  life  in  the  eastern  and 
life  in  the  western  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 
It  may  be  that  it  was  Saracens,  or  Moslems,  ''  who 
first  interposed  an  insuperable  barrier  between 
Europe  and  Asia,  so  that  the  w^orld  was  practically 
rent  in  twain."  ^  It  certainly  must  be  that  the 
present  divergence  will  dwindle,  and  East  and 
West  will  mingle  in  some  higher  synthesis.  But  we 
gain  nothing  and  lose  much  if  we  merely  say  that 

"  There  is  neither  East  nor  West,  border  nor  breed  nor  birth." 

Looking  back  over  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years 
we  must  admit  that  ''  the  history  of  Western  civili- 
zation is  the  history  of  man's  emancipation  from 
the  tyranny  of  his  surroundings,  that  of  tropical 
civilization  is  the  record  of  his  enslavement."  ^ 

Western  versus  Eastern  Ideal.  All  that  we  most 
prize  in  American  life  is  the  offspring  of  the  in- 
dividualistic principle — the  love  of  liberty,  the  em- 
phasis on  personality,  the  determination  to  give 
every  hum.an  being  a  chance,  the  joy  of  conscious 

*  Inazo  Nitohe.  The  Japanese  Nation,  6. 

^  Alleyne  Ireland,   The  Far  Eastern  Tropics,  10. 


40         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

progress.  Our  Western  temper  has  found  charac- 
teristic expression  in  the  motto :  "  Liberty,  equahty, 
fraternity."  But  such  a  motto  is  meaningless  to 
the  vast  majority  of  the  population  of  the  globe. 
Liberty,  social  or  political  or  religious,  would  be  a 
novel  and  trying  experience  for  great  sections  of 
the  Orient.  Equality,  in  the  sense  of  democracy, 
is  not  wanted  by  peoples  who  from  time  immemorial 
have  '^  desired  a  king,"  and  who  admire  the  gener- 
osity of  a  personal  ruler  much  more  than  the  ab- 
stract justice  of  a  code  of  laws.  Fraternity  is  an 
unintelligible  word  to  people  separated  for  ages  by 
the  granite  walls  of  caste  distinctions.  The  great 
Indian  durbar,  when  the  English  sovereigns,  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  of  India,  made  their  royal 
progress  through  the  chief  Indian  cities,  drew  forth 
the  real  sentiment  of  the  Indian  soul — boundless 
loyalty  to  a  king,  boundless  reverence  for  superior 
and  enduring  power. 

Rigid  Caste  Control.  The  arrangement  of  East- 
ern society  in  horizontal  layers  (where,  as  in  India, 
the  caste  system  prevails),  or  into  separate  com- 
partments (where,  as  in  China,  officials  are  distinct 
from  the  people),  renders  any  sort  of  progress 
peculiarly  difficult.  The  *'  crust  of  custom  "  is  very 
hard  to  break  through.  In  India  it  is  believed  that 
the  four  great  castes — the  Brahmans,  the  Kshat- 
riyas  (warriors),  the  Vaisyas  (agriculturists),  and 
the  Sudras  (serfs) — came  respectively  from  the 
head,  the  arms,  the  thighs,  and  the  feet  of  Brahma. 
The  Brahman  wears  his  sacred  white  thread  over 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  41 

his  shoulder  throughout  his  life,  as  the  symbol  of 
his  superiority  to  all  other  orders  of  the  human  race. 
The  other  three  castes  descend  in  regular  grada- 
tions of  power  and  privilege,  and  below  all  the  castes 
are  some  fifty  millions  of  wretched  ''  outcastes," 
who  may  not  draw  water  from  the  village  well,  or 
touch  any  utensil  used  by  those  above  them,  whose 
very  shadow  is  a  pollution  and  a  terror.  Men  of 
this  low  estate  may  by  their  shadow  pollute  any 
man  of  the  higher  castes — at  a  distance  of  twenty- 
four  paces,  or  thirty-six  or  forty-eight  paces,  or 
even  while  sixty-four  paces  away !  The  sins  against 
caste  are  always  purely  social  sins.  Caste  does  not 
forbid  the  holding  of  any  belief  or  the  commission 
of  any  moral  wrong.  But  it  does  with  terrible 
stringency  forbid  a  man  to  eat  with  any  lower 
caste,  or  to  marry  into  a  lower  caste.  It  is  an  iron- 
bound  social  system,  the  most  tyrannical  and  endur- 
ing the  world  has  ever  seen,  by  which  no  man  may 
emerge  from  the  position  in  which  he  was  born» 
and  by  which  all  individual  initiative  is  strangled  at 
its  birth. 

Vast  Boycotting  System.  Under  such  a  system 
each  man  carries  upon  his  person  the  marks  that 
show  at  a  glance  his  social  position  and  his  religious 
faith.  Each  morning  before  the  man  goes  forth  on 
the  street  he  paints  upon  his  forehead  the  signs  of 
his  caste,  to  protect  himself  from  chance  meeting 
with  men  of  inferior  birth.  But  that  mark  also 
prevents  him  from  any  attempt  to  rise  above  his 
prenatal  position.     He  is  held  in  fetters,  clamped 


42  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

into  a  social  status  from  which  there  is  no  earthly 
escape.  If  he  is  for  any  ceremonial  offense  ejected 
from  his  caste,  he  is  of  all  men  most  miserable.  He 
loses  at  once  his  occupation  and  his  home.  He  is  re- 
garded with  horror  by  neighbors  and  friends.  None 
may  trade  with  him,  employ  him,  or  feed  him.  If  he 
crosses  the  ocean  to  study — crossing  the  "  black  " 
sea  is  a  sin  against  caste — he  may  be  required  on 
his  return  to  undergo  most  loathsome  purification 
before  he  can  be  restored  to  his  place  in  the  caste. 
Such  a  social  system  of  course  stamps  out  all  origi- 
nality or  even  individuality.  ''  It  is  a  vast  boycot- 
ting system,  ready  to  hand,  to  crush  non-conform- 
ity." ^ 

Mohammedan  Immobility  through  the  Koran. 
In  the  great  Mohammedan  world, — which  includes 
Turkey  and  Egypt,  much  of  interior  Africa,  a  large 
part  of  India,  parts  of  Burma,  the  Malay  States, 
and  Java, — there  is  no  caste  whatever,  and  society 
is  in  a  sense  democratic.  But  there  solidarity  and 
immobility  are  brought  about  through  rigid  adher- 
ence to  the  letter  of  the  Koran.  The  teaching  of 
the  Koran  and  the  traditions  that  have  gathered 
around  it  have  so  stereotyped  Mohammedan  peoples 
that  any  idea  of  progress  is  rejected  as  religious 
heresy.  The  Koran,  written  in  the  seventh  century, 
poured  into  an  unchangeable  mold  the  life  of  the 
Arabs.  The  original  cry,  "  There  is  no  God  but  God, 
and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet,"  may  have  come 
as  a  glad  release  to  tribes  living  in  fear  of  petty 
^  John  Morrison,  Nezv  Ideas  in  India,  22. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  43 

deities  and  toiling  under  the  heavy  yoke  of  petty 
superstition.  Certainly  we  can  all  share  Moham- 
med's hatred  of  idolatry  and  all  admire  a  worship 
which  will  not  tolerate  an  image  in  any  mosque 
throughout  the  world.  We  should  not  forget  the 
results  in  literature  and  science  achieved  by  Mo- 
hammedanism in  its  early  development. 

A  Petrifying  System.  But  Mohammed's  concep- 
tion of  God  as  absolute  arbitrary  will,  and  of  human 
life  as  merely  the  working  out  of  divine  decrees 
has  in  later  times  petrified  the  social  and  religious 
life  of  large  sections  of  the  globe.  The  laws  of 
marriage  and  of  inheritance  of  property,  laid  down 
in  the  Koran  twelve  hundred  years  ago,  cannot  be 
changed,  and  property  still  descends  from  father  to 
son  in  Mohammed's  way.  The  ceremonial  observ- 
ances suited  to  Arabian  tribes  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury are  binding  on  all  peoples  of  every  land  that 
embraces  Mohammedan  faith.  Still  the  muezzin 
calls  to  prayer  five  times  a  day.  Still  the  varied 
washings,  so  useful  in  a  tropical  climate,  must  be 
observed  in  every  climate  by  whoever  would  follow 
Mohammed.  Still  the  Koran,  unchangeable  in  any 
jot  or  tittle,  is  the  supreme  law,  discouraging  all 
real  thinking  and  petrifying  social  and  religious  life. 
Mohammedanism  would  force  Europe  and  Africa 
to  conform  to  the  customs  of  the  nomadic  Arabian 
tribes  of  the  seventh  century.  It  makes  resistance 
to  novelty  obedience  to  God. 

Both  Systems  Degrade  Womanhood.  This  un- 
changing social  structure  includes,  in  both  Moham- 


44         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

medan  and  Hindu  communities,  the  perpetual  in- 
feriority of  women.  Both  systems  inculcate  the 
rigid  seclusion  of  women  from  all  active  participa- 
tion in  life.  If  man  is  passive  in  the  East  from 
choice,  woman  is  passive  by  ancient  prescription 
which  she  dares  not  defy.  She  is  deliberately  ex- 
cluded from  all  the  things  that  make  the  life  of  her 
husband,  or  father,  or  brother,  interesting  and  vital. 
She  is  usually  illiterate,  since  education  might  cause 
her  to  become  restless  and  rebellious.  She  is  mar- 
ried before  the  attainment  of  womanhood,  and  thus 
a  happy,  care-free  childhood  is  impossible.  She  is 
the  victim  of  polygamy,  and  so  is  shut  into  a  home 
likely  to  be  filled  with  jealousy  and  petty  strife.  If 
she  becomes  a  Hindu  widow,  even  while  still  a 
child,  remarriage  is  prohibited,  and  she  becomes 
the  mere  drudge  and  slave  of  her  kindred.  Where- 
ever  Hinduism  or  Mohammedanism  prevails,  a 
man's  civilization  necessarily  results.  The  Hindu 
wife  may  not  even  eat  with  her  husband,  but  must 
first  serve  him,  and  then  eat,  often  from  her  hus- 
band's plate,  alone  or  with  her  children.  She  is  a 
subject,  if  not  a  slave.  The  Mohammedan  woman 
may  be  divorced  by  the  simple  pronouncement  of 
the  usual  formula:  '*  I  divorce  thee."  And  for 
both  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  women  all  these 
cramping  customs,  designed  to  suppress  unwelcome 
individuality,  are  supposed  to  be  divinely  given, 
eternally  binding  laws. 

Defect  of  China.     China  is  not  only  free  from 
caste,  but  also  free  from  the  curse  of  veiled  and 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  45 

secluded  womanhood.  Its  social  structure  is  ex- 
traordinarily democratic.  The  emperor  sometimes 
rose  from  the  lowest  ranks.  The  poorest  boy  might 
take  the  famous  examinations  and  attain  recogni- 
tion as  a  great  scholar.  Women,  in  spite  of  foot- 
binding,  have  often  exercised  great  influence  in 
Chinese  history,  and  the  whole  social  order  has 
been  one  to  encourage  local  self-government. 
Whence  then  has  come  the  stagnant  and  even  fossil- 
ized character  of  Chinese  civilization?  Why  is  it 
that  one  of  her  own  citizens  has  recently  said: 
*^  China  has  not  been  able  to  produce  a  world-mind, 
or  an  immortal  book,  or  an  epoch-making  invention 
for  the  last  twenty  centuries."  ^ 

Devotion  to  Ancestors.  The  petrifaction  of 
Chinese  civilization  has  been  due  chiefly  to  an  un- 
reasoning devotion  to  ancestors.  The  Chinese  citi- 
zen has  been  held  back  from  self-development,  not 
by  the  men  around  him,  but  by  the  generations  be- 
hind him.  Of  course  there  are  other  causes  for 
the  immobility  of  China,  such  as  its  seclusion  from 
Europe  by  mountain  ranges  and  deserts,  its  long 
inaccessibility  by  sea;  but  the  main  cause  is  the 
extraordinary  glorification  of  the  past,  leading  to 
the  worship  of  one's  own  ancestors.  On  the  first 
and  the  fourteenth  day  of  each  month  the  normal 
Chinese  household  has  bowed  before  the  wooden 
tablets  on  which  are  inscribed  the  names  of  parents 
and  grandparents  and  even  remote  generations.    To 

^  L.  Y.  Ho,  Annals  American  Academy  of  Political  Science, 
January,   1912. 


46         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

retain  the  approval  of  those  ancestors,  to  follow 
minutely  and  implicitly  their  teaching,  to  reproduce 
their  virtues,  is  the  highest  aim  of  every  loyal  son 
in  the  household/  When  Sun  Yat-sen  was  chosen 
provisional  President  of  the  Chinese  Republic  in 
1912,  one  of  his  first  public  acts  was  to  visit  the 
"  Ming  tombs  "  near  Nanking,  where  the  emperors 
of  the  great  Ming  dynasty  are  buried,  and  in  solemn 
ceremony  ''  inform "  his  official  ancestors  of  his 
accession  to  power. 

Arrested  Development.  This  sense  of  the  pres- 
ence of  past  generations  has  pervaded  all  Chinese 
life.  The  land  is  filled  with  innumerable  graves, 
covering  every  hillside,  facing  every  running 
stream,  standing  in  the  midst  of  almost  every  plowed 
field,  or  emerging  from  the  growing  crops.  To 
disturb  a  grave  is  a  species  of  sacrilege.  In  the 
streets  of  Canton  every  little  shop  has  its  shrine, 
where  the  shopkeeper  may  commune  with  his  an- 
cestors before  he  begins  to  trade.  One  of  the  finest 
temples  in  China  is  that  of  the  Chun  Ka  Che  clan 
in  the  city  of  Canton.  There  one  can  see  hundreds 
of  wooden  tablets,  each  bearing  the  name  of  some 
ancestor,  and  also  vacant  tablets  on  which  the 
names  of  those  living  will  some  day  be  inscribed. 
Each  individual  thus  acquires  his  sole  significance 
from  his  place  in  the  family — he  is  one  more  tablet 

^  I  have  myself  met  a  Chinese  gentleman  who  claimed  to 
be  a  direct  descendant  of  Confucius  in  the  fortieth  genera- 
tion, and  his  every  movement  showed  his  consciousness  that 
forty  generations  were  "  looking  down  upon "  him. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  47 

amid  the  thousands.  To  remove  him  from  the 
family  is  to  blot  him  out  utterly.  Filial  piety  is 
the  highest  possible  duty.  Loyalty  to  the  teachings 
of  past  ages  is  the  test  of  fitness  for  present  office. 
The  old  examinations,  given  at  all  the  provincial 
capitals  for  many  centuries,  were  designed  simply 
to  test  the  candidate's  absolute  mastery  of  every 
phrase  in  the  Chinese  classics  of  two  thousand  years 
ago.  Thus  Chinese  civilization,  in  its  own  way  and 
by  its  own  peculiar  methods,  became  even  more  im- 
mobile and  stereotyped  than  Mohammedanism  or 
Hinduism.  China  became  the  most  striking  in- 
stance of  arrested  development  the  world  ever  saw, 
on  a  gigantic  scale  and  by  deliberate  intention. 

Japanese  Unity.  The  solidarity  of  Japan  was 
forcibly  brought  home  to  the  Western  world  by 
the  famous  telegram  of  Admiral  Togo  to  his  em- 
peror after  the  victory  over  the  Russian  fleet  in  the 
Sea  of  Japan:  ''The  virtues  of  your  majesty  and 
the  help  of  our  ancestors  have  won  for  us  this 
victory." ^ 

At  Sacrifice  of  Personality.  It  was  that  union  of 
past  w4th  present,  that  subordination  of  each  man 


^  The  writer  said  to  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  thought 
in  modern  Japan :  "  Did  that  telegram  affirm  the  immortality 
of  the  soul?  Did  the  Admiral,  do  your  people,  believe  that 
their  ancestors  were  actually  fighting  beside  them  in  battle?" 
"  Not  that ;  it  was  not  a  credal  statement,  but  an  instinctive 
feeling  that  we  and  our  fathers  are  forever  one."  "  But 
what  will  happen  when  your  people  begin  to  examine  the 
validity  of  that  belief?"  "We  dread  the  time  when  our 
people  shall  examine  the  foundations  of  what  they  now  hold 
by  instinct." 


48         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

to  the  life  of  the  nation,  that  enabled  the  Japanese 
to  conquer  the  apparently  impregnable  Port  Arthur. 
This  national  unity  has  made  them  reverence  the 
emperor  as  divine,  and  hang  his  picture  as  a  re- 
ligious symbol  in  every  schoolhouse.  But  it  has  also 
created  a  family  system  which  crushes  out  the  sense 
of  personal  evil,  or  personal  responsibility,  and  has 
permitted  the  v^oman  to  sell  her  honor  in  order  to 
support  her  father  or  educate  her  brother.  Dr. 
Inazo  Nitobe,  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo, 
whose  former  residence  in  America  and  service  as 
exchange  professor  has  made  him  peculiarly  com- 
petent to  estimate  both  civilizations,  points  out  in 
his  lectures  many  of  the  defects  of  our  Western 
individualism.  Then,  with  the  candor  of  the  scholar, 
he  describes  the  sacrifices  required  by  the  social  sys- 
tem of  Japan :  ''  Individuals  are,  figuratively  speak- 
ing, made  victims  at  the  shrines  of  family  worship; 
their  very  personality  is  nipped  in  the  bud  at  the 
same  altar.  .  .  .  Our  family  is  based  on  vertical 
relations,  on  successive,  superimposed  generations, 
from  parents  to  children."  ^  We  are  not  then  sur- 
prised to  find  that  in  the  Japanese  language  there 
is  no  word  exactly  corresponding  to  our  word  per- 
son {persona).  Under  the  old  ethical  system  of 
Bushido  one  of  the  greatest  compliments  that  could 
be  paid  a  hero  was  to  say :  ''  He  is  a  man  without 
a  me." 

Tyranny  of  Tribe  among  Uncivilized  People.     In 
those  Eastern  lands  which   are  still   inhabited  by 
*  The  Japanese  Nation,  159. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  49 

half-civilized  or  barbarous  peoples,  the  tribe  or  the 
village  community  is  the  unit  of  organization.  In 
Africa  the  power  of  the  tribe  over  the  individual 
is  absolute.  '*  Natural  rights  "  are  undreamed  of 
among  savage  peoples.  The  single  man  has  such 
rights  as  the  tribe  may  grant  him,  and  no  more  does 
he  dare  to  claim.  And  the  law  of  the  tribe  is  the 
law  of  immemorial  custom.  The  customs  of  the 
people  are  so  inwrought  with  their  religious  be- 
liefs that  a  violation  of  established  custom  is  de- 
fiance of  the  gods.  "  No  savage  is  free,"  says  Sir 
John  Lubbock.  "  All  over  the  world  his  daily  life 
is  regulated  by  a  complicated  and  apparently  most 
inconvenient  set  of  customs  (as  forcible  as  laws), 
of  quaint  prohibitions  and  privileges."  ^  Under 
such  circumstances  to  change  one's  religion  means 
to  be  thrown  out  of  the  community  at  once,  and 
to  become  a  "man  without  a  country,"  or  even  a 
man  without  a  home. 

Village  Rule  in  India  and  Burma.  In  India  the 
village  community,  including  many  castes,  has  long 
been  a  unit  of  organization,  and  the  compulsion  of 
the  village  no  single  man  could  hope  to  escape.  The 
solidarity  of  a  native  Burmese  village  has  been  de- 
picted by  one  who  lived  for  many  years  in  Burma : 
"  A  village  does  not  mean  only  one  collection  of 
houses ;  it  is  a  territorial  unit,  of  from  one  to  a  hun- 
dred square  miles.  .  .  .  The  headman  and  council 
ruled  all  the  village  matters.  They  settled  house- 
sites,  rights  of  way,  marriages  of  boys  and  girls, 
^  Quoted  by  Dewey  and  Tufts,  Ethics,  428. 


50         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

divorces,  public  manners,  they  got  up  such  public 
works  as  were  undertaken.  .  .  .  There  was  hardly 
any  appeal  from  their  decision.  The  village  was 
a  real  living  organism,  within  which  the  people 
learned  to  act  together,  to  bear  and  forbear.  There 
was  a  local  patriotism  and  a  local  pride. ^ 

Whole  East  Suppresses  Individualism.  Thus 
in  Burma,  India,  Turkey,  Egypt,  China,  Africa — 
and  to  a  less  extent  in  Japan  and  Persia  and  Arabia 
— the  social  order  of  Eastern  lands  has  been  either 
stratified,  layer  above  layer,  as  in  some  geological 
deposit,  or  fixed  in  compartments,  separated  by 
ancient  frowning  walls  which  no  single  man  might 
dare  to  scale.  In  either  case  the  social  order  was 
for  many  centuries  curiously  fixed,  impermeable  to 
new  impulse,  resentful  of  every  change.  The  great 
landlocked  Eastern  nations,  shut  from  the  Western 
world  for  ages,  have  crystallized  into  masses  where 
the  individual  is  buried  in  customs  harder  than  the 
igneous  rocks  of  the  geologic  ages.  As  Sir  Bamp- 
fylde  Fuller  has  said :  "  Asiatics  accept  their  en- 
vironment as  inevitable  and  are  content  to  act  on 
the  defensive  toward  it;  whereas  Europeans  are  at 
constant  strife  with  their  surroundings  in  attempts 
to  modify  them.  .  .  .  Politics  in  the  East  have 
hardly  ventured  to  question  an  authority  which  is 
endowed  by  religion  or  supported  by  force;  West- 
ern history  has  been  disturbed  by  denials  of  this 
authority."  ^ 

"■  H.  Fielding  Hall,  Atlantic  Monthly,  October,  1913. 
'  The  Empire  of  India,  357. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  51 

Brahman  Belief  Obliterates  Personality.  This 
social  immobility  has  been  greatly  strengthened  by 
the  mystical  character  of  much  Oriental  religion. 
To  the  Hindu  all  human  life  is  Maya,  or  illusion. 
Brahma  is  the  primal  reality  and  into  him  at  last 
shall  all  individuals  be  absorbed.  The  human  beings 
that  seem  so  separate  to  us  are  really  facets  of  the 
primal  being,  temporary  manifestations  of  the  in- 
finite all-pervading  life.  Thus  all  personal  effort 
tends  to  be  dissolved  in  a  pantheistic  mist.  While 
the  common  people  worship  a  multitude  of  minor 
divinities  that  are  incarnations  of  the  divine,  the 
more  subtle  minds  of  the  educated  classes  find 
divinity  in  everything,  whether  good  or  evil.  That 
God  is  all  is  the  universal  assumption.  Hence  sin 
is  unreal,  struggle  against  it  is  folly,  and  personal 
ambition  is  futile, — except  the  am.bition  to  sink  at 
last  absorbed  in  Brahma,  as  the  glancing,  tossing 
waves  fall  back  into  the  infinite  sea.  Hence  Hindu- 
ism has  little  definite  creed,  and  is  more  of  a  social 
system  than  a  religious  faith.  Dr.  John  Morrison 
of  Calcutta  finds  only  three  chief  doctrines  in  Hin- 
duism. ''These  are:  first,  Pantheism;  secondly, 
Transmigration  and  Final  Absorption  into  Deity; 
and  thirdly,  Maya,  i.e.,  Illusion,  or  the  unreality 
of  the  phenomena  of  sense  and  consciousness."  ^  To 
such  a  faith,  or  rather  philosophy,  evil  is  a  passing 
dream,  effort  as  futile  as  the  running  of  a  squirrel 
in  a  revolving  cage,  and  the  thing  which  hath  been 
is  the  thing  which  shall  be.  The  lament  of  Ec- 
^  New  Ideas  in  India,  153. 


52         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

clesiastes  "  All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea,  yet  the 
sea  is  not  full,"  and  the  fancy  of  the  distempered 
Hamlet  that  ''  life  is  a  stale  and  pestilent  congre- 
gation of  vapors,"  and  the  dreary  belief  of  Omar 
Khayyam,  that  all  of  us  are 

*'  a  moving  row 
Of  visionary   shapes  that  come   and   go," 

— all  these  confessions  of  the  uselessness  of  strug- 
gle are  echoes  of  the  fatalism  that  pervades  Hin- 
duism and  Hindu  society. 

Buddhism  Leads  to  Passivity.  And  Buddhism 
for  the  countless  millions  w^hom  it  controls  has  no 
happier  message.  It  is  indeed  filled  with  pity,  it 
is  beautiful  in  its  compassionate  temper.  But  it 
reminds  us  of  Heine's  complaint,  as  he  stood  before 
the  mutilated  figure  of  the  Venus  de  Milo  in  the 
Louvre:  ''Alas!  she  is  beautiful,  but  she  has  no 
arms !  "  The  images  of  Buddha  that  are  sprinkled 
all  over  Ceylon  and  China  and  Japan  are  exalta- 
tions of  the  contemplative  and  quiescent  life.  That 
sedentary  figure  calls  men  away  from  the  world 
of  action.  The  nerveless  hands  rest  upon  the  knees, 
the  head  is  downward  bent.  The  eyes  do  not,  like 
those  of  the  Sistine  Madonna,  survey  the  far  hori- 
zon, but  are  turned  inward,  and  the  whole  figure 
invites  humanity  to  cease  from  striving  and  retire 
into  meditation.  Far  better  such  a  figure,  as  the 
symbol  of  attainment,  than  the  bloody  deities  of 
Hindu  superstition;  but  it  certainly  is  an  invita- 
tion to  inaction,  to  passivity.    Buddhism  sets  before 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  53 

us,  as  the  goal  of  life,  Nirvana,  where  desire  itself 
shall  cease.  If  Nirvana  be  not  extinction,  it  is  at 
least  the  extinction  of  will  and  wish.  Buddhism 
constantly  presents  to  its  followers  the  argument : 
"  Everywhere  is  suffering ;  suffering  springs  from 
desire;  hence  only  through  cessation  of  desire  can 
we  attain  release  from  suffering  and  reach  the  goal 
of  life.'*  The  emphasis  on  personality  is  necessarily 
weak  wherever  Buddhism  prevails.^ 

Oriental  Wars  without  Progress.  The  result  of 
the  im.mobility  of  social  order  in  Eastern  lands  has 
been  in  many  cases  a  monotonous  history,  which 
taxes  the  patience  of  the  Western  scholar.  In  Euro- 
pean and  American  history  we  are  fascinated  by 
the  story  of  the  growth  of  laws,  institutions,  and 
governments.  The  tragic  wars  that  have  devastated 
Europe  usually  had  at  least  some  definite  outcome, 
and  changed  the  map  of  the  world.  The  growth  of 
popular  liberty,  the  struggle  against  royal  preroga- 
tive, the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  spread  of  suffrage, 
all  these  things  show  a  definite  unfolding — "  first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  grain  in  the 
ear."      Runnymede,    Plymouth    Rock,    Trafalgar, 


^  The  finest  of  all  images  of  Buddha  is  the  mammoth 
bronze  statue  at  Kamakiira,  Japan,  the  Daibutsu.  For  seven 
hundred  years — for  the  last  three  centuries  without  any 
roof  over  it — the  figure  has  sat  there  in  mild  dignity,  gentle- 
ness and  pity  beaming  out  of  the  downcast  eyes.  But  the 
contrast  between  that  bowed,  sedentary  figure  and  the  athletic 
figure  of  "  Saint  George  and  the  Dragon,"  or  the  forward 
stride  of  "  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,"  at  the  entrance 
to  New  York  harbor,  is  the  contrast  between  two  attitudes 
toward  life,  and  two  resulting  civilizations. 


54         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Yorktown — -those  words  call  up  to  us  definite  ad- 
vances in  the  human  story,  new  and  permanent 
levels  of  human  life.  But  as  we  try  to  understand 
the  history  of  Africa  or  Central  Asia,  while  doubt- 
less our  Western  training  is  responsible  for  much  of 
our  lack  of  comprehension,  we  are  confronted  with 
constant  movement  and  little  progress.  We  read 
of  enormous  migrations,  continuous  warfares,  revo- 
lutions immense  and  bloody,  but  we  "  come  out  at 
the  same  door  wherein  we  went."  "  Real  history," 
says  Dr.  George  W.  Knox,  ''  has  to  do  Vvith  prog- 
ress— that  makes  the  interest  of  the  story.  In  Asia 
there  have  been  endless  wars,  .  .  .  leaving  the 
people  unchanged,  whoever  won.  Hence  it  is  in- 
tolerably tedious,  without  real  movement  or  result."  ^ 
What  Can  Arouse  the  East?  We  read  the  history 
of  the  invasions  of  the  Scythians,  Tatars,  Mongols, 
with  a  curious  sense  of  hopelessness  and  unreality, 
and  catch  ourselves  wondering  if  the  story  is  simply 
a  phase  of  the  ''  Maya,"  or  illusion,  in  which  every 
Hindu  so  profoundly  believes.  And  when  we  see, 
after  the  millenniums,  the  Egyptian  fellah  or  peas- 
ant still  using  the  same  sort  of  plow  as  in  Abraham's 
day,  and  the  Indian  ryot  living  in  the  same  sort  of 
hut  as  in  the  time  of  the  Mogul  emperors,  and  the 
Chinese  observing  the  same  elaborate  code  of 
etiquette  as  when  Confucius  died,  we  realize  that 
"  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west  "  means  a  greater 
distance  than  the  psalmist  dreamed.  Until  Japan 
emerged  into  new  life,  we  faced  everywhere  in  the 
'  The  Spirit  of  (he  Orient,  33. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  55 

Orient  peoples  of  crystallized  ideas,  fixed  habits,  and 
compacted  social  order,  such  as  the  restless  Occi- 
dent could  not  endure  for  a  single  year.  Against 
that  social  order  Alexander  flung  his  armies  in  vain. 
Against  it  the  crusaders  hammered  for  two  centuries 
equally  in  vain.  Against  it  Britain  has  now  for 
a  century  and  a  half  contended  in  India,  with  a  re- 
sult indicated  in  Lord  Curzon's  declaration :  ''  We 
English  in  India  are  but  as  the  foam  on  the  surface 
of  a  fathomless  ocean."  The  question  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  whether  the  Christian  faith 
has  a  dynamic  that  can  accomplish  what  marching 
armies  and  commercial  companies  have  found  im- 
possible.    To  that  question  we  shall  later  return. 

Must  Conserve  the  Oriental's  Social  Connections. 
But  this  at  least  is  clear:  religion  in  the  Orient  is 
and  must  be  a  social  as  well  as  an  individual  matter. 
We  can  never  make  English  Puritans  out  of  Indian 
peasants,  nor  do  we  wish  to.  The  Kingdom  will 
not  come  in  India  merely  by  isolating  single  con- 
verts from  all  the  life  around  them.  To  break  up 
the  caste  or  the  village  community  is  not  enough; 
''  to  replace  is  to  conquer."  When  the  native  Indian 
convert  has  been  plucked  away  from  his  caste  and 
his  home  and  his  livelihood,  what  shall  we  do  with 
him?  If  he  has  lost  not  only  his  superstitious 
creed,  but  has  lost  also  all  the  '*  social  tissue  "  in 
which  he  was  born,  what  new  fellowship  shall  we 
provide  for  him?  To  embrace  Christianity  is  in 
most  cases  to  be  regarded  as  false  to  family  and 
ancestry  and  native  land.     His  old  faith  was  not  a 


56         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

matter  of  mere  creed ;  it  was  woven  into  his  entire 
life.  It  covered  that  life  with  a  fine  network  of 
social  observances.  The  pious  Mohammedan 
spreads  his  prayer-mat  five  times  a  day,  on  the 
plowed  field,  in  the  desert,  on  the  deck  of  his  boat, 
•or  wherever  he  may  be.  The  Hindu  farmer  can- 
not sow  nor  reap  grain,  nor  thrash  nor  grind  it, 
except  at  such  times  as  his  priest  may  approve. 
The  devoted  Buddhist  will  not  undertake  any  jour- 
ney, nor  make  any  bargain,  nor  celebrate  any  family 
festival,  without  consulting  the  superstitions  that 
have  grown  up  around  the  simple  teachings  of 
Buddha. 

Religion  Socially  Pervasive.  The  Oriental  has 
never  understood  what  we  mean  by  the  distinction 
between  sacred  and  secular.  All  his  life  is  saturated 
Vv^ith  his  religion,  and  he  cannot  conceive  the  smallest 
part  of  life  as  exempt  from  religious  motive  and 
sanction.  He  makes  little  of  what  we  call  congre- 
gational worship,  observed  at  set  times  in  the  week, 
but  he  prays  after  his  fashion  constantly,  propitiates 
at  every  cross-roads  the  demons  that  he  dreads,  and 
refuses  to  make  the  smallest  decision  unless  assured 
that  his  gods  are  with  him.  Hence  religion  in  the 
Orient,  while  often  degraded  and  degrading,  has 
a  social  pervasiveness  which  is  astonishing.  Instead 
of  being  ashamed  of  his  religion,  the  Oriental  finds 
in  it  the  indispensable  element  in  agriculture  and 
trade,  in  travel  and  labor,  in  life  and  death.  Instead 
of  confining  it  to  sacred  times  and  places,  he  puts 
liis  images  everywhere  and  bows  before  them  morn- 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  57 

ing,  noon,  and  night.  Amid  all  the  darkness  of 
non-Christian  faiths  the  Oriental  bears  witness  to 
Sabatier's  declaration  that  ''man  is  incurably  re- 
ligious." 

Movement  by  Mass.  Now  it  is  obvious  that  in 
such  coherent  societies  as  we  have  described  mass 
movements  are  to  be  expected  among  the  people. 
In  Western  lands  the  individual  reformer  or  protes- 
tant  or  revolutionist  has  frequently  stood  forth  alone 
and  defied  the  powers  that  be.  ''  Athanasius  against 
the  world  "  is  a  figure  congenial  to  European  think- 
ing. But  the  East,  while  it  has  of  course  had  its 
individual  reformers,  has  usually  been  marked  by 
huge  slow  migrations,  vast  but  gradual  changes  of 
sentiment,  and  has  been  like  a  floating  midsummer 
cloud  *'  that  moveth  altogether  if  it  move  at  all." 
The  unrest  that  has  been  stirring  all  Eastern  lands 
since  Japan's  victory  over  Russia  is  a  vague  mass- 
feeling  that  can  hardly  be  located  or  defined.  Africa 
has  no  single  native  mind  to  lead  its  awakening  life. 
India  produces  no  Cromwell  nor  Washington. 
Whether  China  has  produced  a  man  who  can  voice 
the  national  aspiration  and  lead  it  to  national 
achievement  remains  to  be  seen.  But  the  general 
movement  in  every  Oriental  land  is,  as  it  were,  sub- 
terranean. Far  beneath  the  surface  that  is  visible 
to  every  traveler  vast  currents  are  flowing,  imper- 
ceptible changes  are  wrought  in  racial  feeling,  and 
when  the  people  do  move  toward  a  new  ruler,  or  a 
new  ideal,  or  a  new  faith,  they  go  in  shoals  and 
herds  and  m.asses. 


58         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

National  Gravitations.  Hence,  if  Eastern  lands 
shall  accept  the  Christian  faith,  they  may  *'  fly  as 
doves  to  their  windows."  For  many  centuries  im- 
passive Oriental  minds  may  offer  a  stolid  resistance 
to  Christianity,  and  then  a  nation  may  be  born  in 
a  day.  The  surprising  spread  of  Buddhism  through 
all  India,  followed  by  its  complete  expulsion  from 
India  proper  and  its  swift  expansion  in  China  and 
Japan,  is  a  case  in  point.  The  swift  triumph  of 
Mohammedanism  in  its  earlier  stages  is  well  known, 
and  many  an  African  tribe  has  in  recent  years  come 
bodily  into  the  Mohammedan  fold.  When  Christi- 
anity is  really  understood  in  Eastern  lands,  when 
we  can  separate  it  from  all  the  intrigue  of  politics, 
the  sharp  practises  of  commerce,  and  the  vices  in- 
troduced by  traders,  and  can  present  it  as  a  spiritual 
faith  and  force,  may  we  not  expect  whole  communi- 
ties, tribes,  and  castes  to  embrace  it? 

Problem  of  North  India  Mass  Movement.  The 
Bishop  of  Madras  has  recently  reported  significant 
mass  movements  which  he  has  witnessed  in  a  visit 
to  northern  India.  In  1891  there  were  only  19,780 
native  Christians  in  the  Punjab.  Ten  years  later 
there  were  37,695  Christians,  while  in  191 1  he  found 
there  163,994  Christian  converts.  A  growth  of 
eight  hundred  per  cent,  in  twenty  years  is  difficult 
for  us  to  conceive,  but  quite  in  accord  with  Indian 
ideals.  A  conference  of  six  denominations  was 
called  at  the  city  of  Lahore  to  determine  how  to  deal 
with  such  an  incoming  tide.  Were  these  converts' 
motives  pure  and  Christian?    Did  they  realize  what 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  59 

they  were  doing?  Doubtless  their  motives  were 
varied  and  mingled,  as  in  all  that  is  human.  Doubt- 
less one  great  reason  for  the  spiritual  migration 
from  Hinduism  to  Christianity  has  been  the  revolt 
of  the  "  depressed  classes,"  the  outcastes,  against 
the  tyranny  of  Brahmans,  and  the  evident  response 
to  the  social  sympathy  of  the  Christian  Church.  But 
whatever  the  motives,  the  facts  are  portentous. 
"  The  situation  in  the  Punjab  is  urgent  and  extrem.e. 
The  mass  movement  is  advancing  with  extreme 
rapidity;  it  is  bound  to  advance  even  more  rapidly 
in  the  immediate  future;  it  is  animated  by  powerful 
motives  that  are  legitimate  but  dangerous;  the  re- 
sources of  the  missionary  societies  are  inadequate 
for  instructing  the  new  converts  and  teaching  the 
baptized  Christians:  to-day  there  are  160,000 
Christians  in  the  Punjab,  in  five  years'  time  there 
will  be  300,000;  in  ten  years'  time  a  million;  it  will 
take  five  years'  time  to  train  a  body  of  teachers 
suflficient  even  for  the  pressing  needs  of  to-day. 
There  is  no  time  therefore  to  be  lost.  *  Educate, 
Educate,  Educate,'  ought  to  be  the  watchword  of 
every  mission  Church  working  in  the  Punjab,  and 
if  the  Churches  in  the  West  fail  to  respond  to  the 
appeal  that  comes  to  them  from  this  great  move- 
ment now,  they  will  bitterly  rue  their  shortsighted- 
ness or  apathy  ten  years  hence,  when  they  have  to 
deal  with  half  a  million  Christians,  discontented 
with  their  social  position,  fired  with  a  passionate 
desire  for  land  and  liberty,  and  at  the  same  time 
illiterate,    imperfectly   instructed  in  the   truths   of 


6o         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Christianity  and  little  influenced  by  the  spirit  of 
Christ." ' 

Baptist  Telugu  Movement  The  remarkable  in- 
gathering among  the  Telugus  in  southern  India  in 
1878  is  one  of  the  fascinating  stories  of  modern 
times.  The  ''  Lone  Star  Mission,"  carried  on  for 
years  in  the  face  of  appalling  obstacles  and  dis- 
couragements, was  suddenly  transformed  by  a  re- 
ligious movement  which  amazed  and  perturbed  the 
missionaries  who  had  brought  it  about.  During  the 
great  famine  of  1876-78  for  eighteen  months  none 
were  received  into  the  Church,  as  the  missionaries 
were  exceedingly  cautious  about  making  '*  rice 
Christians."  But  as  soon  as  the  doors  of  the  Church 
were  opened,  10,000  new  members  were  received 
in  ten  months  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Clough  and  his  colleagues 
of  the  American  Baptist  mission,  2,222  being  bap- 
tized in  a  single  day.  And  the  mass  movement  did 
not  suddenly  cease  nor  involve  reaction.  To-day  in 
that  one  mission  there  are  60,000  communicants, 
and  625  schools  with  15,000  pupils. 

Dr.  Clough's  Attitude.  Dr.  Clough  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  free  life  of  the  American  prairie. 
But  in  India  he  found  himself  facing  a  complex  and 
powerful  social  system.  His  success  was  achieved 
by  the  abandonment  of  any  attempt  to  create  a 
Christian  Iowa  or  a  Christian  Kansas  under  the 
Indian  sky.     In  his  autobiography,^  he  writes : 

^  The  Bishop  of  Madras,  International  Revieiv  of  Missions, 
July,  1913- 

^  Now  in  press,  edited  by  Mrs.  J.  E.  Clough. 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  6i 

Utilizing  Native  Conditions.  "  I  can  see  in  look- 
ing back  that  nothing  could  have  been  further  apart 
in  social  ideals  than  I,  with  my  inherent  love  of  in- 
dividual rights  handed  down  to  me  through  six 
generations  of  Americans  on  the  one  side,  and  these 
Madigas,  bound  up  in  a  system  where  the  com- 
munity was  everything  while  the  individual  counted 
as  nothing.  I  was  conciliatory  in  many  ways.  I 
let  Christianity  find  a  place  for  itself  in  the  com- 
mon village  life  and  expand  along  the  old-time 
manner  of  thought.  The  tribal  characteristics,  the 
village  community,  and  family  cohesion,  all  came 
into  play.  Where  village  headmen  were  among  the 
converts  I  took  away  from  them  none  of  the 
authority  which  their  village  system  had  given  them. 
By  common  consent  they  became  deacons,  and  the 
old  authority  was  exercised  under  the  new  regime. 
To  force  a  lot  of  Western  ideas  upon  such  a  con- 
verted village  elder  was  not  to  my  mind  good  policy. 
I  let  him  stay  in  his  groove,  and  let  him  learn  in  his 
own  way  how  to  live  a  Christian  life  and  help  others 
to  60  so. 

Thus  Winning  Success.  "  It  is  possible  for  me 
to  say  in  retrospect  what  I  would  not  have  cared  to 
say  thirty-five  years  ago.  At  that  time  the  whole 
trend  of  opinion  in  the  Christian  world  would  have 
been  against  me.  But  now  I  can  say  without  hesi- 
tation that  the  Western  forms  of  Christianity 
are  not  necessarily  adapted  to  an  Eastern  com- 
munity. .  .  .  My  attempt  at  church  organization 
along  Western  lines  I  cannot  say  was  a  success.    In 


62  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

so  far  as  I  could  make  use  of  the  primitive,  in  so 
far  did  I  succeed." 

Recent  Methodist  Telugu  Movement.  But  other 
missions  among  the  Telugus  are  having  to-day  an 
experience  similar  to  that  of  thirty-five  years  ago. 
The  Methodist  missionaries  have  gathered  14,000 
people  into  the  churches,  and  remarkable  scenes 
have  recently  been  witnessed.  Hundreds  have 
v/aiked  long  distances  over  cobra-infested  paths, 
colliers  have  come  from  the  mines,  employees  from 
the  railv^ay,  farmers  from  remote  villages,  crowd- 
ing to  hear  the  Christian  message.  The  caste  sys- 
tem of  southern  India  is  more  rigid  and  tyrannical 
than  that  in  northern  India,  and  thousands  of  na- 
tives who  could  never  muster  courage  to  act  alone 
are  coming  in  families  and  groups  and  villages  to 
profess  the  new  faith.  These  people  are  poor,  de- 
spised, illiterate.  All  Christian  customs  and  ideals 
are  to  them  strange  and  far  away.  Their  coming 
in  masses  has  been  opposed  by  some  conscientious 
missionaries.  But  others,  seeing  whole  villages  and 
castes  turning  toward  the  truth,  reaching  out  with 
a  great  hunger  for  the  new  teaching,  have  said : 
"  What  was  I  that  I  could  withstand  God  ?  " 

The  Transformation  of  Korea.  Nor  are  these 
movements  confined  to  India.  The  extraor- 
dinary opening  of  Korea  to  the  Christian  faith 
in  the  last  thirty  years  is  well  known.  The  first 
missionaries  entered  Korea  in  1884.  To-day  there 
are  200,000  Korean  Christians,  and  the  num- 
ber has  been  increasing  so  rapidly  as  to  cause  seri- 


Social  Order  in  East  and  West  63 

ous  embarrassment  to  those  who  seek  to  guide  the 
movement  and  make  it  enduring.  Here  again  the 
reasons  for  the  mass  movement  were  various.  The 
frequent  change  of  political  rulers  and  the  ruin 
of  political  hopes  made  the  people  eager  for  some 
steadfast  faith.  The  absence  of  any  really  vital 
native  religion  made  the  soil  an  easy  one  in  which 
to  plant  new  seed.  The  simple  native  language, 
which  "  a  person  of  intelligence  can  learn  in  a 
morning  and  the  stupidest  person  in  a  few  days," 
made  Bible  reading  a  very  simple  process.  The 
bent  of  the  native  mind  toward  mysticism,  the  hope 
of  securing  foreign  protection  in  time  of  political 
disturbance,  the  docile  temper  of  the  people — all 
these  things  prepared  the  w^ay  for  a  great  national 
welcome  to  Christianity.  To-day  the  Church  is 
no  longer  the  sole  refuge  of  the  Korean  in  dis- 
tress. Government  is  under  Japanese  control, 
the  whole  peninsula  is  now  filled  with  new  influ- 
ences, and  the  value  of  the  old  mass  movement  is 
being  severely  tested.  But  the  national  conscious- 
ness was  forever  changed  by  the  sweeping  of  multi- 
tudes into  the  Church  in  ten  years  of  extraordinary 
transformation. 

Other  National  Movements.  The  marvelous 
changes  in  the  political  and  social  life  of  Turkey 
show  us  that  when  the  time  is  fully  ripe  similar 
religious  changes  may  there  be  expected.  The  up- 
heaval in  Persia  in  recent  years  has  altered  the 
whole  attitude  of  the  nation  toward  the  modern 
world.     In  Africa  probably  the  most  remarkable 


64         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

mass  movement  has  been  that  in  Uganda,  where  for 
several  years  the  converts  have  numbered  seven  or 
eight  thousand  a  year. 

The  Great  Expectation.  Such  v^holesale  changes 
in  certain  lands  or  provinces  should  not  induce  any 
roseate  anticipations,  as  if  the  millennium  were 
at  hand.  As  we  shall  see  later,  there  are  also  mass 
movements  of  reaction  and  hostility.  Nor  should 
community  movements  toward  Christianity  lead  us 
to  the  mistake  of  many  medieval  missionaries,  who 
baptized  whole  clans  and  tribes  without  much  in- 
quiry into  individual  experience  or  attitude.  It 
remains  true  that  the  personal  choice  of  each  hu- 
man soul  is  the  first  essential  in  the  spread  of  the 
Christian  faith.  But  these  great  movements  do 
show  that  since  the  Oriental  has  never  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  alone  or  act  alone,  but  always  as 
a  fragment  of  some  group,  we  may  expect  not 
merely  to  gain  a  recruit  here  and  there,  but  to 
see  whole  communities  and  provinces  arising  into 
faith,  as  some  army  springs  from  the  ground  at  a 
bugle  call.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  Chris- 
tianizing of  families,  villages,  and  tribes,  there  is 
a  conversion  of  national  aspirations  and  ideals. 
There  is  a  sudden  turning  of  the  vast  stream  of 
human  history.  It  was  seen  in  the  days  of  Con- 
stantine;  again  in  the  day  of  Luther;  again  under 
Napoleon;  yet  again  under  Mutsuhito,  of  Japan. 
That  stream  is  turning,  massively,  irresistibly  to- 
day; but  we,  dim-sighted,  stand  too  near  to  per- 
ceive it. 


THE  PROJECTION  OF  THE  V/EST 
INTO  THE  EAST 


The  Gospel  aims  at  founding  a  community  among  men  as  wide 
as  human  life  itself,  and  as  deep  as  human  need.  As  has  been 
truly  said,  its  object  is  to  transform  the  socialism  which  rests  on 
the  Ijasis  of  conflicting  interests  into  the  socialism  v/hich  rests  on 
the   consciousnes   of   a    spiritual   unity. 

— Adolf   Harnack. 

Respect  for  Oriental  national  aims  and  religious  aspirations  has 
had  small  place  in  Western  thinking.  The  momentous  condition 
of  the  world  at  this  time  indicates  an  approaching  change.  None 
may  safely  prophesy  the  nature  of  that  change,  but,  if  we  believe 
in  the  present  activity  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  may  look  tor  great 
readjustments  in  Western  thinking,  for  the  chastening  of  inad- 
missible ambitions,  for  the  growing  influence  of  Christ  in  the 
East. 

—Charles    Cuthbert  Hall. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PROJECTION  OF  THE  WEST  INTO 
THE  EAST 

Meeting  of  Opposing  Civilizations.  We  are  fa- 
miliar with  the  old  problem  often  discussed  by  our 
fathers:  what  would  happen  if  a  material  body 
moving  with  irresistible  force  should  strike  against 
another  body  that  is  immovable?  Somewhat  simi- 
lar is  the  great  problem  of  the  twentieth  century: 
what  is  to  be  the  result  of  the  projection  of  the 
restless,  dynamic  civilization  of  the  West  into  the 
static  crystallized  civilization  of  the  East?  The 
problem  is  not  simply  that  of  individualism  versus 
collectivism — it  is  far  deeper  and  more  complex. 
The  two  civilizations  embody  opposing  ideals  of 
all  that  is  really  worth  while.  An  acute  observer, 
thoroughly  familiar  with  life  in  India,  has  written 
of  the  Indian  attitude  to-day :  "  Whatever  its  modes 
of  expression,  the  mainspring  is  a  deep-rooted  an- 
tagonism to  all  the  principles  upon  which  Western 
society,  especially  in  a  democratic  country  like  Eng- 
land, has  been  built  up."  ^ 

View  of  Lord  Cromer.  The  contrast  between  the 
social  and  moral  values  of  the  East  and  those  of 

*  Valentine  Chirol,  India's  Unrest,  5. 
67 


68         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

the  West  is  depicted  by  Lord  Cromer :  ''  Contrast 
the  talkative  European,  bursting  with  superfluous 
energy,  active  in  mind,  inquisitive  about  everything 
he  sees  and  hears,  chafing  under  delay  and  impa- 
tient of  suffering,  with  the  grave  and  silent  East- 
ern, devoid  of  energy  and  initiative,  stagnant  in 
mind,  wanting  in  curiosity  about  matters  which  are 
new  to  him,  careless  of  waste  of  time  and  patient 
under  suffering."  ^ 

Contrast  between  East  and  West.  In  the  pref- 
ace of  his  great  work  on  Modern  Egypt,  Lord 
Cromer  still  more  clearly  outlines  the  mental  habits 
and  ideals  and  values  of  Oriental  peoples.  "  No 
casual  visitor  can  hope  to  obtain  much  real  insight 
into  the  true  state  of  native  opinion.  Divergence 
of  religion  and  habits  of  thought;  in  my  case  igno- 
rance of  the  vernacular  language;  the  reticence  of 
Orientals  when  speaking  to  any  one  in  authority; 
their  tendency  to  agree  wath  any  one  to  whom  they 
may  be  talking;  the  want  of  mental  symmetry  and 
precision,  which  is  the  chief  distinguishing  feature 
between  the  illogical  and  picturesque  East  and  the 
logical  West,  and  which  lends  such  peculiar  interest 
to  the  study  of  Eastern  life  and  politics;  the  fact 
that  religion  enters  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  Eu- 
rope into  the  social  life  and  laws  and  customs  of 
the  people;  and  the  further  fact  that  the  European 
and  the  Oriental,  reasoning  from  the  same  premises, 
will  often  arrive  at  diametrically  opposite  conclu- 
sions— all  these  circumstances  place  the  European 
^  Modern  Egypt,  6. 


Projection  of  West  into  East  69 

at  a  great  disadvantage  when  he  attempts  to  gage 
Eastern  opinion." 

Statements  of  Sayce  and  Hall.  Of  course  it  is 
quite  possible  to  exaggerate  this  antithesis  between 
Oriental  and  Occidental  minds.  Those  who  would 
erect  a  permanent  barrier  between  races,  and  main- 
tain that  the  Oriental  is  to  us  forever  "  inscrutable," 
are  in  error.  The  highest  classes  in  India  are  of 
our  own  blood,  and  easily  compete  with  the  best 
minds  among  us.  China  has  been  called  the  land 
of  *'  topsy-turvydom,"  because  the  Chinese  wear 
white  for  mourning,  read  a  page  from  top  to  bot- 
tom rather  than  left  to  right,  etc.  But  if  Ameri- 
cans had  been  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world 
for  two  thousand  years,  would  they  not  appear  pecu- 
liar? The  differences  are  not  due  to  original  con- 
stitution, but  to  environment  and  training,  and  in 
time  they  may — to  the  great  loss  of  the  world — 
disappear.  But  at  present  they  are  clear  and  strik- 
ing, and  to  ignore  them  is  to  fail  in  either  diplo- 
matic or  missionary  endeavor.  "  Those  who  have 
been  in  the  East  and  have  tried  to  mingle  with  the 
native  population,"  says  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce, 
"  know  well  how  utterly  impossible  it  is  for  the 
European  to  look  at  the  world  with  the  same  eyes 
as  the  Oriental.  For  a  w^hile  indeed  the  European 
may  fancy  that  he  and  the  Oriental  understand  one 
another,  but  a  time  comes  when  he  is  suddenly 
awakened  from  his  dream  and  finds  himself  in  the 
presence  of  a  mind  which  is  as  strange  to  him  as 


yo         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

would  be  the  mind  of  an  inhabitant  of  Saturn."  ^ 
H.  Fielding  Hall,  writing  out  of  most  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  Burmese  people,  says:  "  The  bar- 
riers of  a  strange  tongue  and  a  strange  religion 
and  ways  caused  by  another  climate  than  ours  are 
so  great  that  even,  to  those  of  us  who  have  every 
wish  and  every  opportunity  to  understand,  it  seems 
sometimes  as  if  we  should  never  know  their  hearts. 
It  seems  as  if  we  should  never  learn  more  of  them 
than  just  the  outside — that  curiously  varied  outside 
which  is  so  deceptive,  and  which  is  so  apt  to  pre- 
vent our  understanding  that  they  are  men  just  as 
we  are,  and  not  strange  creations  from  some  far- 
away planet."  ^ 

Difference  of  Ideals.  The  difference  between  the 
two  civilizations  is  not  that  one  has  attained  the 
goal  while  the  other  is  still  seeking  it.  The  dif- 
ference is  that  one  civilization  disdains  what  the 
other  most  desires.  The  virtues  of  the  one  have 
been  regarded  as  vices  by  the  other.  Eagerness, 
haste,  energetic  unremitting  toil,  improvement  of 
tools,  the  accumulation  of  material  comforts,  repre- 
sentative government,  unlimited  freedom  of  move- 
ment, *'  the  glory  of  going  on," — these  are  Western 
"  goods  "  whose  value  we  seldom  question.  Hence 
we  have  in  the  West  an  intensely  competitive  spirit ; 
in  school  life,  in  athletic  sports,  in  commerce,  in 
manufacture,  even  in  religion.  But  inner  calm,  dis- 
like of  haste,  meditation,   reverence   for  the  past 

^  The  Higher  Criticism  and   the  Monuments,  558. 
'  The  Soul  of  a  People,  3. 


Projection  of  West  into  East  71 

and  for  the  powers  that  be,  dignity  of  bearing  and 
repose  of  spirit — these  are  the  ''  goods  "  of  the 
Orient  whose  value  is  felt  by  every  growing  child.^ 
Speaking  in  general  terms,  the  goal  of  existence  in 
Eastern  lands  has  been  release  from  action,  while 
the  goal  of  the  West  has  been  "  life  more  abun- 
dantly." What,  now,  is  likely  to  be  the  result  when 
ships  and  railways  and  telegraphs  and  telephones 
are  carrying  Western  ambitions,  Western  ideals 
throughout  all  Eastern  lands?  What  has  been  the 
result  already  of  this  projection  of  the  Occident 
into  the  Orient? 

Old  Chinese  Examinations.  The  influence  of 
Western  education  introduced  into  Eastern  lands 
both  by  missionaries  and  by  European  governments 
has  been  profound  and  far-reaching.  Schools  have 
battered  down  more  walls  than  cannon,  and  the 
work  of  teachers  has  caused  the  undermining  of 
systems  of  thought  that  have  endured  for  mil- 
lenniums. No  more  striking  scene  can  be  found  in 
China  to-day  than  the  deserted  ''  examination  halls  " 
in  the  city  of  Nanking  on  the  Yangtze  River.  The 
visitor  to  that  city  is  taken  to  the  top  of  a  tall 
tower  in  the  center  of  a  vast  enclosure  surrounded 
by  a  stone  wall.     From  the  top  of  the  tower  he 

*  A  distinguished  American  traveler,  calling  on  an  Arab 
sheik,  excused  himself  to  meet  another  appointment.  "  You 
seem  to  be  in  haste,"  said  the  sheik ;  "  you  Americans  are 
always  in  haste,  are  you  not?"  "Yes,"  said  the  traveler, 
"  we  have  invented  two  words,  a  verb  and  a  noun,  to  describe 
our  attitude — the  words  '  hustle  '  and  '  hustler.'  "  "  Ah  !  " 
sighed  the  Arab  chief,  "we  in  the  East  got  all  over  that 
thousands  of  years  ago." 


^2         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

looks  down  on  the  halls,  or  cells,  said  to  be  20,000 
in  number,  outspread  around  him  in  every  direc- 
tion. The  cells  are  arranged  in  long  rows,  with 
narrow  aisles  or  lanes  running  between  the  rows. 
Each  cell  is  about  five  feet  square.  At  the  bottom 
is  a  board  on  which  the  student  could  sleep  at  night. 
At  the  side  is  a  niche  in  the  masonry  where  the  stu- 
dent placed  the  basket  of  food  which  he  brought 
in  with  him.  A  little  higher  is  another  niche  for  a 
candle  by  whose  light  the  student  could  write  after 
dark.  In  that  cell  the  student  worked  for  three 
days  and  then  had  one  day  of  freedom.  Then  he 
was  shut  in  for  three  days  more,  followed  by  an- 
other day  of  rest.  Then  he  had  three  days  more 
in  the  cell — nine  days  in  all,  of  rigid,  relentless  ex- 
amination. The  examination  papers  were  not 
printed  until  all  the  students  were  in  their  cells  and 
the  gates  were  closed.  This  precaution  was  taken 
to  avoid  cheating — which  nevertheless  was  not 
avoided.  If  any  student  died  under  the  strain,  as 
men  occasionally  did,  the  heavy  gates  might  not 
be  opened.  The  body  was  simply  removed  from 
the  cell,  hoisted  over  the  wall,  and  carried  off  by 
relatives.  The  supreme  object  of  the  imprisoned 
student  was  to  write  an  essay  which  should  demon- 
strate his  absolute  mastery  of  the  Confucian  classics 
and  his  absolute  loyalty  to  their  teaching.  He  must 
prove  through  the  examinations — which  were  the 
only  door  to  public  office — that  he  was  familiar  with 
every  allusion,  every  phrase,  every  character  in  the 
writings  of   Confucius,   Mencius,  and  their   disci- 


Projection  of  West  into  East  73 

pies.  Any  variation  from  the  original  phrasing,  any 
introduction  of  novelty,  any  intrusion  of  personal 
experience  and  opinion  was  fatal  to  success. 

Now  Left  Behind.  But  now  the  visitor,  looking 
down  on  the  20,000  halls,  sees  that  about  500  of 
them  are  in  ruins,  swept  aw^ay  by  an  overflow  of 
the  huge  river.  Over  thousands  of  the  halls  weeds, 
vines,  and  mosses  are  growing,  and  never  again  will 
any  Chinese  pupil  enter  any  one  of  them.  They 
are  crumbling  slowly  into  dust,  and  with  them  has 
crumbled,  not  only  a  kind  of  examination,  but  an 
attitude  tow^ard  life,  a  system  of  values,  a  standard 
of  character.  The  passing  of  China's  old  education 
is  the  transformation  of  her  life.  Now  the  student 
who  w^ould  win  governmental  positions  must  answ^er 
questions  in  European  history,  in  economics,  in 
social  science;  and  the  old  Chinese  officials,  with 
their  huge  goggles,  their  embroidered  coats,  their 
clinging  to  the  far  past,  have  gone  into  hiding, 
never  to  emerge.  The  crumbling  of  the  cells  signi- 
fies the  transformation  of  the  national  life. 

"  See   on   the   cumbered   plain. 
Clearing  a  stage, 
Scattering  the   past  about. 
Comes  the  new  age." 

Ideas  in  English  Words  and  Writers.  Consider 
the  far-reaching  influence  of  merely  teaching  our 
English  language.  There  are  certain  insurgent  ele- 
ments in  our  English  tongue,  because  there  have 
been   insurgent    forces  beneath   Anglo-Saxon  life. 


74         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

The  teacher  of  English  may  refrain  from  any  at- 
tempt to  disturb  native  ideals  in  China  or  India  or 
Africa,  but  he  is  forced  to  explain  such  words  as 
"  patriotism,"  ''  public  spirit/'  "  citizenship."  He 
may  have  no  wish  to  undermine  the  throne  of  any 
prince,  but  he  must  explain  the  meaning  of  "  com- 
mittee," "  congress,"  '*  representative,"  '*  freedom." 
When  Verbeck  of  Japan  was  forbidden  to  teach  any- 
thing but  English,  he  took  as  one  of  his  text-books 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  What  is  the 
result,  when,  as  in  India,  John  Stuart  Mill's  Essay 
on  Liberty  has  been  used  as  a  text-book,  and  the 
speeches  of  Burke  are  learned  by  heart?  What  is 
the  result  when  men  brought  up  to  worship  Vishnu 
and  Siva,  or  Buddha,  begin  to  study  passages  from 
Milton  and  Tennyson?  In  scores  of  Indian  schools 
Tennyson's  "  In  Memoriam  "  has  been  studied  by 
pupils  eager  to  learn  the  English  tongue,  quite  un- 
conscious that  they  were  absorbing  at  the  same  time 
English  ideals  and  English  faith.  There  are  in 
India  perhaps  six  million  pupils  in  government  and 
mission  schools,  a  large  part  of  this  number  study- 
ing English.  Suppose  they  read  in  Tennyson's 
"  The  Princess  "  : 

"  The  woman's  cause  is  man's ;  they  rise  or  sink 
Together,  dwarfed  or  godlike,  bond  or  free." 

Can  such  reading  fail  to  start  questions  in  a  land 
where  all  respectable  womanhood  is  shut  within  the 
zenana  or  the  harem,  or  if  it  ventures  on  the  street 
is  so  veiled  as  to  make  recognition  impossible? 


Projection  of  West  into  East  75 

English  Speech  in  Indian  Education.  It  was  in 
1835  that  the  English  government,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Lord  Macaulay,  determined,  after  long  and 
bitter  controversy,  that  in  all  the  government  schools 
of  India  education  should  be  given,  not  in  the  ver- 
naculars, but  in. the  English  language.  In  this  mo- 
mentous step  the  government  was  simply  endorsing 
the  view  of  the  great  missionary,  Dr.  Alexander 
Duff,  who  strongly  advocated  the  same  policy.  Dr. 
Duff,  as  we  shall  see  later,  held  that  the  native 
tongues  could  not  then  express  the  deepest  truths 
the  missionaries  had  to  give,  and  his  powerful  in- 
fluence, and  his  great  success  in  the  English  school 
which  he  opened  in  Calcutta  in  1830,  put  all  his 
opponents  to  silence.  But  to  learn  English  means 
to  become  familiar  with  terms  wrought  out  by  cen- 
turies of  freedom  and  Christian  faith.  In  studying 
the  social  sciences  the  student  must  define  such  words 
as  society,  responsibility,  progress,  representative — 
and  perhaps  referendum  and  recall.  In  philosophy 
the  student  must  learn  the  meaning  of  personality, 
soul,  freedom  of  the  will,  conscience — and  that  in 
a  land  where  individuality  has  been  sternly  repressed 
or  regarded  as  illusion.  In  science  the  student  learns 
the  meaning  of  atom  and  electricity  and  radio- 
activity, and  also  of  evolution,  the  descent  of  man, 
the  origin  of  species,  and  other  phrases  and  ideas 
which  have  been  the  battle-fields  of  Western  con- 
troversy. In  the  study  of  history  the  Indian  stu- 
dent learns  of  the  revolt  of  the  United  States  against 
British  rule  and  the  practical  autonomy  attained  by 


y(>         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Canada  and  Australia.  He  has  before  him  decla- 
rations of  independence,  defenses  of  popular  liberty, 
the  fervid  oratory  of  John  Bright  and  William  E. 
Gladstone.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  many  an  Indian 
student  has  his  head  turned,  and  wants  India  to 
achieve  in  five  years  what  Britain  has  achieved  in  a 
thousand  years  ?  To  ''  learn  English  "  is  not  merely 
to  learn  the  twenty-six  letters  of  the  alphabet  and 
their  combinations;  it  is  to  become  familiar  with 
English  liberty  and  law  and  ethics  and  religion. 
It  is  in  many  cases  to  be  dazzled  by  a  new  and  blind- 
ing light. 

Effect  on  Religious  Thought.  In  religious 
thought  the  simple  learning  of  English  may  involve 
far-reaching  changes.  The  words  God,  sin,  eternal 
life,  convey  to  the  native  of  India  novel  concep- 
tions. His  god  may  have  been  a  dancing  wooden 
image,  his  sin  a  purely  ceremonial  offense,  his  eter- 
nal life  a  ceasing  to  be.  The  Mohammedan  who 
studies  our  English  tongue  is  confronted  by  such 
terms  as  Son  of  God,  trinity,  atonement — words 
whose  very  meaning  is  a  direct  attack  on  his  deepest 
religious  convictions.  He  cannot  read  Shakespeare 
or  Milton  or  Scott  or  Longfellow  without  entering 
a  circle  of  ideas  at  variance  with  all  his  training. 
He  cannot  "  learn  English  "  without  learning  what 
are  the  chief  spiritual  treasures  of  the  English- 
speaking  race. 

Influence  of  Science.  The  study  of  Western  sci- 
ence also  has  had  a  profound  effect  on  Eastern  con- 
ceptions of  life.    The  facts  of  modern  science  have 


Projection  of  West  into  East  "jy 

shattered  at  once  many  Oriental  superstitions.  The 
pious  Hindu  beheves  that  the  Ganges  rises  in  the 
nail  of  the  great  toe  of  Vishnu's  left  foot,  then 
issues  from  the  moon,  and  that  the  nymphs  of 
heaven  by  sporting  in  its  waters  have  imparted  to 
it  life-giving  power.  He  believes  that  any  man  who 
dies  on  the  banks  of  the  river  is  sure  of  heaven, 
and  that ''  this  sacred  stream,  heard  of,  desired,  seen, 
touched,  bathed  in,  sanctifies  all  beings."  How  long 
can  such  a  faith  survive  the  teaching  of  modern 
astronomy  and  geography  ?  "  Chemistry  and  bac- 
teriology," says  Dr.  Charles  R.  Henderson,  "  are 
making  rubbish  of  a  good  deal  of  hoary  and  ven- 
erated idolatry.  .  .  .  The  evangel  has  many  voices ; 
science  is  one  of  them."  ^  In  the  center  of  Benares 
is  the  ''  well  of  life,"  from  whose  putrid  depths,  filled 
with  decaying  flowers  and  all  kinds  of  vileness, 
water  is  dispensed  daily  to  thousands  of  devout  Hin- 
dus. How  long  will  the  water  retain  its  sacredness 
after  a  little  elementary  science  has  percolated  down 
through  the  common  people  ? 

Occupations  Vanishing  before  New  Knowledge. 
Whole  occupations  are  vanishing  at  the  touch  of 
Western  knowledge.  The  "  hail-doctor,"  who  by  his 
incantations  has  for  ages  pretended  to  avert  the 
hail-storms,  is  now  discredited  in  many  parts  of 
India.  Native  medicine  in  China,  which  punctured 
the  body  in  scores  of  places,  to  let  out  the  evil  spir- 
its, is  rapidly  losing  popular  confidence.  The  edu- 
cated Chinese  can  no  longer  believe  that  tigers' 
*  International   Review   of   Missions,    October,    1913. 


y8         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

claws,  ground  to  powder  and  taken  internally,  will 
give  him  strength.  He  no  longer  fears  the  priest 
who  tells  him  that  a  lunar  eclipse  is  due  to  the  at- 
tempt of  the  great  dragon  to  swallow  the  moon. 

Growth  of  Promptness  and  Accuracy.  The  teach- 
ing of  science  is  even  modifying  national  character. 
It  gives  a  new  sense  of  accuracy  and  the  value  of 
truth.  It  recalls  the  Oriental  mind  from  hyperbole 
and  glowing  symbolism,  to  a  plain  direct  statement 
of  fact.  Hitherto  the  Oriental  has  had  no  sense  of 
the  value  of  time.  "  Time  doesn't  count  "  is  a  com- 
mon expression  in  the  Far  East."  ^  The  Oriental 
moves  when  he  gets  ready  to  move,  and  the  idea  of 
being  bound  to  act  at  a  specified  moment  is  irksome 
and  intolerable.  To  him  a  "  calendar  of  engage- 
ments "  would  be  a  species  of  slavery.  But  the 
exact  measurements  involved  in  any  scientific  study 
have  sharpened  Oriental  apprehension  of  time  val- 
ues. In  the  same  way  the  Oriental  has  always  been 
careless  in  estimating  size  or  numbers.  If  recount- 
ing a  battle,  he  would  say  that  20,000  men  were 
killed,  or  100,000,  as  best  suited  his  purpose  to 
produce  a  certain  impression.  An  exact  estimate 
of  the  population  of  a  city  seemed  to  him  needless, 
pedantic,  or  even  wicked, — we  remember  how  David 
was  condemned  for  attempting  a  census  of  Israel. 
But  now,  wherever  Western  education  has  gone,  a 


*  When  the  writer  asked  an  Indian  servant  at  a  railway- 
station  "What  time  does  the  train  start?"  the  answer  was! 
"In  ten  minutes;  yes,  in  about  fifteen  minutes;  surely  it 
will  go  in  half  an  hour." 


Projection  of  West  into  East  79 

new  power  to  discriminate,  to  make  accurate  state- 
ment, to  adhere  to  simple  facts,  has  begun  to  enter 
the  national  character. 

Spread  of  Modern  Inventions.  And  the  influence 
of  science,  made  concrete  in  modern  inventions,  has 
been  bewildering  and  shattering.  Formerly  the 
Chinese  tore  up  the  tracks  of  each  new  railroad, 
convinced  that  since  it  was  disturbing  hundreds  of 
graves  it  must  rouse  the  anger  of  their  ancestors. 
But  now  a  railroad  enters  the  capital  city  of  Peking 
through  a  huge  breach  in  the  ancient  wall,  and  makes 
a  most  spectacular  approach  to  the  "  forbidden  city." 
The  steamboat  now  sails  peacefully  from  Canton  up 
the  West  River  to  Wuchow,  a  three  days'  trip,  where 
before  the  Boxer  Rebellion  of  1900  the  smoking 
monster  would  have  been  savagely  attacked  as  an 
offense  to  all  the  spirits  that  guard  the  river.  The 
caravans  of  patient  camels  traveling  from  Mongolia 
southward  pass  through  a  huge  crumbling  gateway 
in  the  ancient  Great  Wall  of  China,  and  also  pass 
under  telegraph  and  telephone  wires,  throbbing  with 
the  news  of  the  world.  The  Great  Wall,  built  in  the 
third  century  before  Christ,  meant  fear,  seclusion, 
defiance ;  the  electric  wires  mean  welcome,  brother- 
hood, desire  to  know  and  feel  with  the  whole  round 
world. 

Breaking  Down  Social  Barriers.  In  India  the 
coming  of  the  railroads  has  proved  the  most  for- 
midable attack  on  the  iron-bound  system  of  caste. 
The  Brahman  and  the  Pariah  both  must  ride — they 
cannot  refuse  the  enormous  advantage.    But  if  they 


8o         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

pay  the  same  fare  they  find  themselves  in  the  same 
compartment.  The  Brahman  has  protested  vigo- 
rously that  he  is  being  defiled,  and  that  the  vile 
creatures  of  lower  birth  should  be  kept  out  of  his 
way.  But  the  inexorable  English  guard  quietly 
says,  ''  Same  fare,  same  seat,"  and  there  is  no  ap- 
peal. Somehow  the  high-caste  men  and  women  find 
a  way  of  explaining  their  conduct,  and  endure  con- 
tacts with  inferiors  which  thirty  years  ago  would 
have  been  thought  polluting  and  degrading  beyond 
repair.  The  tyrannical  caste  distinctions  of  India, 
the  fear  of  evil  spirits  in  China,  and  many  super- 
stitions in  all  Eastern  lands  are  being  driven  out, 
or  seriously  weakened,  by  steam  and  electricity  from 
the  West. 

Static  Quality  of  Mohammedanism.  We  have  al- 
ready noted  the  static  quality  of  the  Mohammedan 
world,  forever  fixed  by  literal  adherence  to  the 
minute  regulations  of  a  divinely  dictated  book. 
Wherever  the  Mohammedan  faith  is  dominant  the 
only  elementary  education  consists  in  memorizing 
that  book.  Most  interesting  it  is  to  visit  the  kiittabs, 
or  little  village  schools  in  Egypt,  and  see — and  hear 
— the  children  all  studying  aloud  at  the  top  of  their 
voices.  Such  a  schodl  needs  no  placard,  for  the 
deafening  din  is  heard  afar.  Each  child  sits  cross- 
legged,  its  little  body  swaying  rapidly  to  and  fro, 
to  prevent  falling  asleep,  while  it  recites  aloud  pas- 
sages from  the  Koran.  After  the  lesson  is  memo- 
rized it  is  written  out  with  a  reed  pen  on  a  sheet 
of  tin — the  substitute  for  a  slate — once  a  part  of 


Projection  of  West  into  East  8i 

a  tin  oil-can.  But  there  is  no  study  of  nature, 
of  any  plant  or  rock  or  tree  or  star,  no  study  of 
history  or  geography  or  any  science — merely  the 
parrot-like  repetition  of  the  precepts  of  the  seventh 
century  which  hold  the  Mohammedan  world  in  their 
vise-like  grip. 

Method  in  the  El  Azhar.  At  the  great  Moham- 
medan University  in  Cairo,  the  El  Azhar,  we  find 
the  same  conception  of  education,  adapted  to  adults. 
Ten  thousand  pupils  assemble  there  each  year,  com- 
ing from  places  as  far  asunder  as  northern  Rus- 
sia and  southern  India.  Each  professor  sits  at 
the  base  of  a  great  column  of  the  open  court  and 
around  him  on  straw  mattings  sit  the  listening  stu- 
dents. The  teacher  expounds  hour  after  hour,  but 
usually  the  theme  is  the  same  as  in  the  children's 
kuttab — the  text  of  the  Koran  or  of  the  various 
commentaries  and  expositions  that  have  gathered 
around  it.  The  endeavor  is  everywhere  the  same — 
to  fix  all  social  and  moral  life  in  the  same  ancient 
mold,  to  crystallize  all  action  into  the  shapes  pre- 
scribed twelve  centuries  ago. 

Now  Meeting  the  Modern  Spirit.  But  even  this 
cast-iron  system  is  now  stirred  within  and  is  facing 
portentous  changes.  Modern  critical  methods  of 
study  are  being  applied  even  to  the  Koran,  and  its 
stupendous  claim  to  have  been  dictated  by  the  angel 
Gabriel  cannot  go  unexamined.  Its  laws  regarding 
marriage  and  bequest  have  had  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  demands  of  English  courts  in  India.  Its  pic- 
ture of  God  as  absolute  monarch,  and  men  as  but  his 


82  Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

tools,  must  adjust  itself  to  the  modern  claims  of 
freedom,  democracy,  and  self-government.  Its 
treatment  of  woman,  shutting  her  into  the  harem 
or  behind  the  veil,  is  now  clashing  with  the  world- 
wide demand  for  the  emancipation  of  womanhood 
from  all  that  enfeebles  and  crushes  personality. 
Its  schools  are  now  confronted  with  the  demand 
for  training  of  the  hand  in  useful  work,  and  for 
some  real  knowledge  of  nature  and  life. 

Recent  Political  Changes  Affecting  Islam.  Mean- 
while political  changes  are  big  with  religious  result. 
The  Turkish  revolution  of  1908  put  the  "  Young 
Turks  "  in  power.  A  constitution  was  granted,  and 
the  sultan — whose  atrocious  cruelties  had  richly 
earned  him  Gladstone's  description,  "  Abdul  Hamid 
the  damned  " — was  deposed  and  driven  out.  Many 
social  reforms  followed.  The  loss  of  Tripoli  to 
Italy  diminished  the  prestige  of  the  new  sultan, 
the  titular  head  of  all  Islam.  The  Balkan  war, 
whose  full  results  are  not  yet  clear,  has  driven  the 
Turks  into  a  small  corner  of  Europe  and  liberated 
from  Turkish  misrule  provinces  oppressed  and  har- 
ried for  centuries.  The  defeat  of  the  Turkish  arms 
has  carried  shame  and  doubt  to  every  Mohammedan 
tribe  in  Arabia  and  every  Mohammedan  colony  in 
India.  It  is  clear  as  the  handwriting  on  the  ancient 
wall  that  the  social  and  religious  system  of  Mo- 
hammed must  be  reformed  or  cast  out.  It  thrives 
when  confronting  barbarous  tribes.  It  is  still  strong, 
aggressive,  and  advancing  in  darkest  Africa.  But 
wherever  it  has  been  subjected  to  the  searchlight 


Projection  of  West  into  East  83 

of  modem  knowledge  it  has  begun  to  falter  and 
decay. 

Nitobe  on  Old  Japan.  The  marvelous  transfor- 
mation through  which  Japan  has  passed  in  the  last 
fifty  years  is  vividly  reviewed  by  Dr.  Nitobe.  In 
striking  paragraphs  he  gives  us  a  picture  of  the 
sudden  projection  of  the  new  into  the  old  in  Japan : 
*'  Cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  an  exclu- 
sive and  inclusive  policy,  there  was  formed  a  so- 
ciety impervious  to  ideas  from  without,  and  fos- 
tered within  by  every  kind  of  paternal  legislation. 
Methods  of  education  were  cast  in  a  definite  mold; 
press  censure  was  vigorously  exercised;  no  new  or 
alien  thought  was  tolerated,  and  if  any  head  har- 
bored one,  it  was  in  immediate  danger  of  being  dis- 
severed from  the  body  that  upheld  it ;  even  matters 
of  frisure,  costume,  and  building  were  strictly  regu- 
lated by  the  state.  Social  classes  of  the  most  elabo- 
rate order  were  instituted.  Etiquette  of  the  most 
rigorous  form  was  ordained.  .  .  .  Even  the  man- 
ner of  committing  suicide  was  minutely  prescribed. 
Industries  were  forced  into  channels,  thus  retard- 
ing economic  development."  ^ 

Progress  in  New  Japan.  But  the  Emperor  Mutsu- 
hito,  who  ascended  the  Japanese  throne  as  a  lad  of 
sixteen,  in  1868,  at  once  proclaimed  the  "  Charter 
Oath  of  Five  Articles,"  intensely  modern,  one  article 
of  which  announced  that  "  knowledge  and  learning 
shall  be  sought  for  all  over  the  world."    Then  the 

*  The  Japanese  Nation,  72. 


84         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

swift  and  amazing  changes  followed :  "  The  year 
1871  saw  the  abolition  of  feudalism.  .  .  .  Not  only 
was  education  made  compulsory  between  the  ages 
of  six  and  twelve,  but  education  in  the  wider  sense 
of  self-governing  citizenship  was  insisted  upon.  .  .  . 
Side  by  side  with  the  preparation  for  civil  liberty, 
reforms  were  set  in  motion  in  every  civil  and  po- 
litical institution.  .  .  .  The  time-honored  social 
classification  of  citizens  into  the  samurai,  or  mili- 
tary and  professional  men,  the  tillers  of  the  soil, 
the  artizans,  and  lastly  the  merchants,  was  abolished. 
The  defense  of  the  country  was  entirely  remod- 
eled. ...  In  political  life  the  transformation  was, 
if  anything,  more  marvelous.  .  .  .  The  constitu- 
tion was  in  1889  proclaimed  in  the  name  of  the 
emperor,  and  the  first  parliament  took  its  seat  the 
following  year.  .  .  .  The  Gregorian  calendar  was 
adopted  and  the  Christian  Sabbath  made  a  regular 
holiday.  Laws  were  codified  on  the  principles  of 
the  most  advanced  jurisprudence,  yet  without  vio- 
lating the  best  traditions  of  the  people.  Higher 
education  in  cultural  and  technical  lines  was  encour- 
aged and  patronized.  New  industries  were  con- 
stantly introduced  or  old  ones  improved.  Means 
of  communication — shipping,  railways,  the  tele- 
graph, and  telephone — have  been  steadily  extended. 
Changes  in  all  departments  of  national  and  com- 
mercial life  are  still  transpiring.  .  .  .  The  state- 
ment is  often  repeated,  that  Japan  has  achieved  in 
five  decades  what  it  took  Europe  five  centuries  to 
accomplish.    The  privilege  of  youth  lies  in  the  in- 


Projection  of  West  into  East  85 

heritance  of  the  dearly-bought  experience  of  age. 
We  are  forever  indebted  to  our  older  sisters  in  the 
family  of  nations."  ^ 

Her  Success  Has  Aroused  Asia.  And  Japan's 
forward  movement  has  touched  the  imagination  of 
all  Asia.  The  story  of  her  revolution — or  restora- 
tion, as  she  prefers  to  call  it — has  been  told  in  the 
ears  of  every  Oriental  prince.  The  sound  of  her 
great  guns,  in  her  amazing  victory  over  Russia  in 
1905,  has  echoed  through  all  Asia.  At  last  an  Asi- 
atic power  had  triumphed  over  a  European  power 
of  the  first  magnitude!  At  last  the  little  brown 
man  had  proved  his  ability  to  grapple  with  the 
white  man  on  the  white  man's  chosen  field,  military 
and  naval  strategy,  scientific  medicine,  and  or- 
ganized warfare.^  The  news  flashed  over  the  new 
electric  wires  of  China  and  India,  journeyed  on 
camels  and  ponies  into  Mongolia  and  Tibet,  was 
carried  by  swift  runners  into  villages  of  the  Cau- 
casus and  the  Himalayas,  and  remote  Asiatic  tribes 
and  provinces  began  to  stir  and  seethe  with  long- 
repressed  ambition.  The  English  poet,  Alfred 
Noyes,  has  painted  this  great  change  in  the  modern 
consciousness,  in  verses  more  accurate  than  any 
prose  statement: 


The  spirit  that  moved  upon  the  deep 
Is  moving  on  the  minds  of  men ; 

The  nations   feel   it  in   their   sleep, 
A  change  has  touched  their  dreams  affain, 

^  The  Japanese  Nation,  82-88  passim. 


86         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Voices  confused  and  faint  arise, 

Troubling  their  hearts  from  East  and  West, 
A  doubtful  light  is  in  their  eyes 

A  gleam  that  will  not  let  them  rest. 

The  dawn,  the  dawn  is  on  the  wing. 
The  stir  of  change  on  every  side, 

Unsignaled  as  the   approach  of   spring, 
Invincible  as  the  hawthorn  tide."^ 


Japan's  Perilous  Moral  View-point.  But  if  Japan 
has  led  all  Asia  in  opening  the  mind  to  Western 
ideas,  she  has  also  led  Asia  in  consciousness  of 
uncertainty  and  '*  doubtful  light.'*  Dr.  Sidney  L. 
Gulick,  who  by  long  residence  has  acquired  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  Japanese,  writes  to  the  sec- 
retary of  the  American  Board :  ''  The  influx  into 
Japan  of  Occidental  naturalistic  philosophy,  irre- 
ligious spirit,  intense  industrial  and  commercial  ac- 
tivity, and  lust  for  gold  and  pleasure  is  producing 
widespread  moral  disaster.  Even  the  system  of 
popular  education,  so  valuable  in  many  ways  to  na- 
tional prosperity,  is  having  an  unfortunate  influence, 
in  that,  while  the  scientific  education  it  imparts 
destroys  belief  in  traditional  faiths,  it  has  not  been 
able  to  provide  an  adequate  substitute.  The  public 
school  system  has  officially  discarded  religion  and 
the  ethics  based  thereon,  and  has  attempted  to  found 
morality  on  patriotism  and  imperial  deification. 
The  result  of  this  policy  has  been  to  undermine 
moral  and  spiritual  life,  a  result  which  has  be- 
come a  matter  of  keen  solicitude  to  many  patriots 

'Alfred  Noyes,  "The  Dawn  of  Peace." 


Projection  of  West  into  East  87 

in  positions  of  responsibility.  .  .  .  Japan's  life  is 
characterized  by  increasing  spiritual  perplexity  and 
moral  peril,  for  to  many  of  the  educated  class, 
trained  in  science  and  history  and  relatively  fa- 
miliar with  various  religions,  the  religious  faiths 
inherited  from  the  past  have  lost  their  meaning, 
value,  and  power,  while  their  motives  for  moral 
conduct  and  sanctions  for  social  life  have  become 
ineffective.  Now,  unless  some  new  religious  faith 
is  found  able  to  maintain  itself  in  the  presence  of 
modern  civilization,  the  universe  comes  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  great,  irresponsible  machine  (material 
or  psychic),  mercilessly  working  out  its  inevitable 
results,  regardless  of  man's  nature  and  needs." 

Conflicting  Currents.  Count  Okuma,  one  of  the 
wisest  of  the  older  statesmen,  is  perfectly  candid 
regarding  the  difficult  moral  situation  of  this  era 
of  transition:  ''Japan  at  present  may  be  likened 
to  a  sea  into  which  a  hundred  currents  of  Orien- 
tal and  Occidental  thoughts  have  poured,  and,  not 
having  effected  fusion,  are  raging,  wildly  tossing, 
warring,  roaring.  The  old  religion  and  old  morals 
are  steadily  losing  their  hold,  and  nothing  has  yet 
arisen  to  take  their  place."  ^ 

Problems  of  Adjustment.  Miss  Ume  Tsuda,  one 
of  the  first  five  Japanese  girls  sent  by  the  Japanese 
government  in  1872  to  study  in  the  United  States, 
has  recently  described  the  present  conflict  of  ideals. 
"  Suddenly  into  the  midst  of  the  old  monotonous 
life  of  the  middle  ages  has  rushed  the  full  flood 
^  The  Missionary  Message,  116. 


88         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  present-day  civilization.  Japan,  awakening  from 
her  sleep  of  ages,  has  tried  to  catch  up  by  one 
bound  with  the  progress  made  in  centuries  by  the 
other  nations.  This  difficult  task  is  being  done 
with  a  marvelous  rapidity.  To  women  no  less  than 
to  men  has  come  the  new  life,  calling  them  out 
into  a  new  and  stirring  world,  with  changed  re- 
sponsibilities and  duties,  new  thoughts  and  ambi- 
tions. These  conditions  are  bewildering,  and  there 
are  many  adjustments  to  be  made  and  problems  to 
be  settled."  ' 

Older  Standards  Without  Force.  Baron  Shibu- 
sawa,  ''  the  Morgan  of  Japan,"  was  brought  up  in 
the  Confucian  system,  and  is  still  satisfied  with  it 
for  himself.  Biut  he  sees  that  it  has  no  hold  on 
the  young  men  of  his  nation  to-day,  and  he  de- 
clares :  ''  The  young  men  now  coming  out  as  the 
product  of  the  school  system  have  no  religious 
faith  nor  moral  principles,  but  live  for  money  and 
pleasure." 

Adoption  of  New  Customs.  Viewing  the  proc- 
ess, then,  in  a  large  way,  what  are  some  of  the 
immediate  results  of  the  projection  of  Occidental 
ideas  into  the  Oriental  mind?  The  most  obvious 
result  is  a  widespread  restlessness  and  in  many 
places  a  feverish  discontent.  A  general  question- 
ing spirit  has  been  aroused  among  peoples  who  have 
for  centuries  simply  accepted  and  obeyed.  The 
**  custom  of  the  country  "  is  no  longer  to  be  blindly 
and  necessarily  approved.  European  costume  is 
^  International  Review  of  Missions,  April,  1913. 


Projection  of  West  into  East  89 

displacing — to  the  regret  of  every  artist — the  old 
picturesque  native  dress.  Among  the  young  busi- 
ness men  of  Egypt  the  white  turban  has  given  place 
to  the  somber  derby,  and  the  long  silk  gown  of 
flashing  colors  has  made  way  for  the  "  customary 
suit  of  solemn  black."  The  veils  worn  by  the  fash- 
ionable women  of  Cairo  have  become  a  mere  bit  of 
gauze,  hardly  concealing  a  single  feature.  The  huge 
wooden  shoes  of  Korea  are  replaced  among  the 
well-to-do  by  European  footwear.  The  gorgeous 
mandarin  coats  of  China  can  no  longer  be  worn 
on  the  public  streets,  and  are  everywhere  sold  for 
a  song.  When  the  revolution  of  1912  broke  out 
in  Canton,  every  Chinese  cue  in  the  city  disap- 
peared in  two  days.  The  police  went  about  the 
streets  with  shears  in  their  hands,  snipping  off  every 
cue  if  the  owner  had  neglected  to  do  so.  Boatloads 
of  country  people  coming  down  the  river  and  arriv- 
ing at  Canton  were  met  at  the  landing-place  by  the 
police,  and  the  astonished  country-man,  who  had 
not  yet  heard  of  the  revolution,  was  horrified  to  see 
his  dearest  earthly  possession — the  cue — clipped 
from  his  head  and  placed  in  his  hands.  Social 
regulations  that  no  one  has  for  centuries  defied 
are  now  being  critically  examined  or  openly  flouted. 
An  Englishman  who  has  spent  a  large  part  of  his 
life  in  Burma  thus  describes  the  new  unrest  of  that 
land :  ''  In  the  place  of  placid  content  we  [the  Brit- 
ish] have  given  the  ambition  to  better  things;  in 
the  place  of  the  belief  that  to  possess  nothing  is 
the  highest  good,  we  are  implanting  the  belief  that 


90         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

to  gain  money  is  the  worthy  aim  of  endeavor;  and 
we  are  naturally  enforcing  the  British  view  that 
to  strive,  to  succeed,  and  to  obtain  is  right  and 
lawful,  in  place  of  the  Burmese  belief  that  to  share 
is  better  than  to  hold,  to  dance  happier  than  to 
work,  and  to  be  content  holier  than  to  strive." 

Movements  toward  Nationalism.  A  spirit  of  na- 
tionalism, such  as  Europe  has  seen  in  the  case  of 
modern  Germany,  Italy,  and  Greece,  is  now  working 
like  a  ferment  in  Eastern  lands  long  passive  and 
stagnant.  The  yoke  of  foreign  control  galls  East- 
ern peoples  as  never  before.  ''  China  for  the  Chi- 
nese "  is  an  old  familiar  cry.  But  now  we  hear  also 
"  India  for  the  Indians,"  "  Egypt  for  the  Egyp- 
tians," and  the  constant  pressure  of  the  Filipinos 
for  self-government  is  felt  each  day  in  Wash- 
ington. 

Astounding  Change  in  China.  But  it  is  in  China 
that  we  see  to-day  most  clearly  a  complete  upsetting 
of  revered  traditions,  and  a  reversal  of  the  cus- 
toms and  ideals  of  three  thousand  years.  The  abo- 
lition of  the  cue  in  South  China  is  merely  the  outer 
sign  of  the  inner  transformation.  Discontent  with 
the  past  has  taken  the  place  of  adoration  of  the 
past.  The  ethical  basis  of  Chinese  life  has  suddenly 
crumbled  and  vanished,  as  the  great  campanile  at 
Venice  suddenly  collapsed  in  a  cloud  of  dust.  Con- 
fucius based  all  human  duty  on  five  relations — the 
relation  of  sovereign  and  subject,  of  husband  and 
wife,  of  parent  and  child,  of  brother  and  sister, 
of  friend  and  friend.     That  was  admirable  as  far 


Projection  of  West  into  East  91 

as  it  went,  but  since  the  overthrow  of  the  Manchu 
dynasty  the  first  and  fundamental  relation,  that 
of  sovereign  and  subject,  no  longer  exists!  The 
most  solemn  ceremony  in  all  the  Chinese  nation  has 
been  the  annual  worship  by  the  emperor,  kneel- 
ing alone  under  the  open  sky  on  the  marble  plat- 
form of  the  magnificent  Temple  of  Heaven  in 
Peking.  But  not  only  has  the  emperor  vanished; 
the  marbles  of  that  great  temple  are  cracked  and 
broken,  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
recently  held  a  Christian  service  on  the  very  spot 
where  the  emperor  used  to  kneel. 

Request  for  Prayer.  In  the  year  1900,  at  the 
time  of  the  Boxer  troubles,  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  missionaries  perished,  thousands  of  native 
Christians  v/ere  slaughtered,  and  the  nation  seemed 
determined  to  drive  every  Christian  into  the  sea. 
But  in  the  spring  of  1913  President  Yuan  Shi-kai 
sent  a  telegram  to  leading  Christians  in  every  great 
city  of  China,  asking  that  Sunday,  April  27,  be 
observed  as  a  day  of  Christian  prayer  for  the  bless- 
ing of  God  on  the  young  republic.  The  writer  was 
in  Shanghai  at  the  time,  and  both  missionaries  and 
foreign  residents  rubbed  their  eyes  and  gasped  in 
astonishment.  Some  cried  incredulously :  "  A  po- 
litical movement — a  mere  piece  of  good  policy!" 
But  what  has  made  it  "  good  policy  "  for  ancient 
China  to  appeal  for  Christian  prayers  ?  How  comes 
it  that  in  the  very  palace  of  the  empress  dowager, 
who  thirteen  years  before  was  breathing  out  threat- 
enings  and  slaughter,  it  is  now  considered  good 


92         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

policy  to  conciliate  Christian  sentiment  and  beg 
for  Christian  sympathy?  Such  a  reversal  of  na- 
tional feeling  in  thirteen  years  can  hardly  be  found 
in  all  previous  human  history.  That  is  not  evo- 
lution— it  is  revolution.  It  is  not  the  slow  rising 
of  the  tide — it  is  the  resistless  sweep  of  a  tidal 
wave.  The  land  where  once  all  life  had  crystal- 
lized into  unchangeable  forms,  has  suddenly  become 
fluid,  plastic,  seeking  new  molds  from  the  Western 
world. 

Homage  of  Japanese  Emperor  Passing.  Evi- 
dently this  intrusion  of  Western  thought  has 
brought  more  than  discontent;  it  has  in  many  cases 
brought  disintegration.  It  has  undermined,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  government  of  China,  and  in  an- 
other way  it  is  undermining  the  attitude  of  the 
Japanese  toward  their  own  government.  The 
Japanese  emperor  has  always  been  regarded  as 
divine,  as  a  direct  descendant  of  the  gods,  and  all 
early  Japanese  history  is  largely  mythological.  But 
the  higher  criticism,  applied  to  Japanese  history, 
has  made  those  early  stories  quite  incredible,  and 
brought  in  question  the  imperial  descent.  Never 
can  the  attitude  toward  the  new  emperor  be  the 
same  as  toward  the  old.  Japanese  statesmen  played 
with  the  present  emperor  in  his  childhood,  they 
studied  with  him  at  school,  and,  devoted  patriots 
as  they  are,  they  cannot  think  of  him  as  other  than 
a  human  being. 

Perils  of  Transition  Period.  Our  Western  indi- 
vidualism is  attacking  at  the  same  time  the  worship 


Projection  of  West  into  East  93 

of  ancestors  in  China  and  the  bondage  of  caste  in 
India.  The  result  sometimes  is  a  social  anarchy 
which  is  full  of  danger.  The  Chinese  young  man 
who  refuses  longer  to  bow  before  the  ancestral  tab- 
lets in  the  home  may  become  a  conceited  upstart, 
who  holds  himself  superior  to  all  the  sages  of  the 
past  and  the  present.  The  Chinese  woman  who 
refuses  longer  to  be  subject  to  her  mother-in-law 
may  learn  to  ignore  all  family  bonds  and  despise 
all  social  order.  The  Bengali  who  has  become  fa- 
miliar with  the  writings  of  Jefferson  and  Mazzini 
sometimes  becomes  a  wild-eyed  fanatic  and  maker 
of  bombs  reserved  for  British  officials.  The  Af- 
rican native  who,  in  asserting  his  manhood,  has 
rebelled  against  his  tribe  and  defied  the  chief,  may 
become  a  mere  outlaw.  Even  among  the  natives  of 
Java,  those  "  mild-eyed  children  of  the  southern 
sea,"  by  nature  wonderfully  docile  and  gentle,  there 
is  now  a  demand  for  better  schools,  more  consid- 
erate treatment  from  their  thrifty  Dutch  rulers, 
and  larger  participation  in  the  government. 

New  Problems  Raised.  The  entrance  of  Oriental 
peoples  into  civilization  has  brought  with  it  startling 
problems  and  novel  dangers.  Wealth  has  brought 
in  its  train  luxury  and  sensuality.  Science  is  de- 
molishing the  old  false  sanctions  of  moral  conduct. 
History  is  demolishing  the  false  bases  of  patriotism 
and  destroying  reverence  for  thrones.  The  study  of 
Western  law  is  making  the  old  Oriental  court  pro- 
cedure seem  quaint  or  ridiculous.  Machinery  is 
revolutionizing  social  conditions  in  great  cities,  and 


94         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

bringing  in  labor  problems  unknown  before. 
Around  Bombay  and  Calcutta  stand  the  smoking 
factory  chimneys,  just  as  around  Liverpool  or  Fall 
River.  China  has  already  forty-one  cotton  mills, 
forty-nine  breweries  and  distilleries,  thirty  oil  mills, 
forty  flour  mills,  and  the  last  cotton  mill  erected 
in  Shanghai  contains  over  two  hundred  thousand 
spindles.  Electric-light  stations  have  been  opened 
at  Foochow  and  Hangchow  on  the  coast,  and  at 
Changsha  in  the  far  interior.  In  central  China, 
at  Hanyang — the  Chinese  Chicago — are  iron  works, 
employing  some  three  thousand  workmen,  rolling 
huge  steel  rails  for  Chinese  railroads,  and  ship- 
ping them  to  America  in  close  competition  with  the 
famous  firms  of  Pittsburgh.  Not  far  from  the 
iron  works  of  Hanyang  are  deposits  of  coal  and 
iron  sufficient  to  last  for  a  thousand  years. 

Industrial  Disturbance  and  Distress.  But  for 
East,  as  for  West,  the  increase  of  knowledge  is  not 
without  increase  of  sorrow.  The  iron  mills  of 
Hanyang  have  created  such  labor  problems  that 
the  directors  have  been  forced  to  study  ''  welfare  " 
work,  and  have  offered  to  erect  a  Y.M.C.A.  build- 
ing as  soon  as  a  suitable  secretary  can  be  found. 
The  jute  mills  and  cotton-mills  of  Calcutta  are  send- 
ing good  dividends  to  their  stockholders;  but  they 
are  breaking  up  the  family  system  on  which  Indian 
life  is  built,  they  are  introducing  child  labor,  they 
are  destroying  native  arts  and  industries  that  have 
endured  for  centuries.  Everywhere  throughout  the 
East  may  be  found  American  sewing-machines,  and 


Projection  of  West  into  East  95 

the  clicking  of  the  flying  needle  may  be  heard  in 
scores  of  idol  temples  in  India.  But  the  sewing- 
machine  and  the  cotton-mill  are  driving  out  the  na- 
tive needles,  native  looms,  and  native  handwork. 
Great  cotton  plantations  and  sugar  plantations  are 
now  being  developed  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs, 
but  the  ''  perennial  irrigation,"  whereby  the  land  is 
flooded  with  Nile  water  for  longer  periods,  is  chang- 
ing the  very  climate,  and  the  peasants  are  laboring 
under  novel  and  trying  conditions.  The  railroad 
locomotive  now  climbs  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  but 
with  it  enter  disturbing  forces,  uprooting  the  cus- 
toms of  three  thousand  years.  The  steamboats  now 
churn  the  waters  of  the  Kongo  River  for  hundreds 
of  miles,  but  they  carry  the  white  man's  rum,  his 
firearms,  his  contagious  diseases,  his  nameless  vices.' 
Phases  of  Religious  Resistance.  In  view  of  these 
startling  changes  in  the  ''  changeless  East,"  no  won- 
der native  religions  are  rousing  themselves  to  new 
resistance.  Reactionary  organizations  are  now 
formed  in  many  regions  to  resist  the  further  en- 
croachment of  Western  ideals.  In  Japan  there  is 
a  new  society  whose  object  is  to  bring  about  a  return 
to  the  Shinto  faith.  Republican  Chin^  has  se- 
lected Confucianism  as  the  religion  of  the  state.  In 
India  the  "  Swadeshi "  movement  is  widespread. 
In  several  Indian  cities  there  is  a  Young  Men's 
Buddhist  Association,  attempting  to  duplicate  the 
methods  and  so  resist  the  advance  of  our  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  Buddhist  priests  are 
holding  "  protracted  meetings,"  and  far  into  the 


96         Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

night  their  lamps  are  seen  and  their  voices  heard 
exhorting  their  countrymen  not  to  yield  to  Chris- 
tian teachings.  The  National  Congress  of  India 
has  for  many  years  sought  to  provide  a  platform 
on  which  all  Hindus  could  meet  to  resist  further  en- 
croachment by  British  officials  and  further  intru- 
sions of  Western  religion.  Western  theosophists 
are  encouraging  Hindus  in  a  resolute  resistance  to 
everything  Christian.  Many  ne,w  associations  have 
sprung  up,  attempting  to  resist  the  West  by  virtu- 
ally adopting  its  ideals.  Such  are  the  Widow  Mar- 
riage Association,  the  Hindu  Widows'  Home,  the 
Nish-Kama-Karma-Matha  (Society  for  Selfless 
Work).  Such  movements,  unheard  of  before  in 
the  Orient,  show  desperate  attempts  at  reform  from 
within,  as  the  only  possible  alternative  to  reform 
from  without.  In  some  cases  they  are  a  kind  of 
death-bed  repentance  of  an  enfeebled  or  expiring 
faith. 

Chaos  or  Christianity.  But  these  efforts  will 
not  permanently  avail.  The  native  religions  have 
not  the  dynamic  to  meet  the  dilemma.  That 
dilemma  in  many  cases  is  simply  chaos  or  Chris- 
tianity. *'  The  old  order  changeth  " — sometimes 
gradually,  like  a  glacier,  but  in  many  cases  swiftly, 
like  a  crashing  avalanche.  Are  we  of  the  West 
content  merely  to  unsettle  and  undermine  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  East?  Are  we  merely  to  destroy 
the  African's  faith  in  his  witch-doctor,  the  Brah- 
man's faith  in  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  the  Bud- 
dhist's faith  in  karma,  and  the  Confucianist's  faith 


Projection  of  West  into  East  97 

in  the  "  five  relations  "  ?  Are  we  with  our  scien- 
tific research,  our  discoveries  and  ingenuities,  our 
restless  roaming  intellect,  merely  to  play  the  part 
of  destroyer  in  the  modern  world?  Are  we  simply 
to  demolish  idols  and  leave  the  world  full  of  va- 
cant shrines?  Or  are  we  to  give  to  the  Eastern 
world  a  deeper  reverence,  a  more  satisfying  faith, 
a  nobler  moral  code,  a  truly  Christian  life?  We 
who  have  sent  our  fleet  of  warships  round  the 
world,  shall  we  also  send  our  religion?  We  who 
have  sent  through  all  the  Eastern  lands  our  food- 
products,  our  textiles,  our  automobiles,  shall  we 
also  send  our  Bible?  We  who  are  breaking  down 
family  life  and  ancient  forms  of  worship  and  long- 
established  government  in  the  Farther  East,  shall 
we  also  plant  the  faith  in  God  the  Father  and  in 
Jesus  Christ  his  only  Son  our  Lord  ?  The  alterna- 
tive "  chaos  or  Christianity "  may  be  a  dilemma 
for  the  East,  but  is  surely  a  challenge  to  the  West. 


SOCIAL   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF 
MISSIONARIES 


If  one  saw  a  single  navvy  trying  to  remove  a  mountain,  the 
desolation  of  the  situation  would  be  sufficiently  appalling.  Most  of 
us  have  seen  a  man  or  two,  or  a  hundred  or  two — ministers,  mis- 
sionaries. Christian  laymen — at  work  upon  the  higher  evolution  of 
the  world;  but  it  is  when  one  sees  them  by  the  thousand  in  every 
land,  and  in  every  tongue,  and  the  mountain  honeycombed,  and 
slowly  crumbling  on  each  of  its  frowning  sides,  that  the  majesty 
of     the     missionary     work     fills     and     inspires     the     mind. 

— Henry   Drummond. 

The  social  aspect  of  the  missionary  service  has  long  been  very 
impressive  to  me.  It  seems  to  have  what  social  service  in  this 
country  often  lacks,  the  persistent  and  unashamed  personal  religious 
appeal.  It  aims  not  merely  to  relieve  men  but  so  to  touch  them 
that  they  shall  become  themselves  agents  of  relief.  We  cannot 
safely  divorce  social  service  and  religion. 

—Arthur  C.   Baldwin. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SOCIAL  ACHIEVEMENTS   OF 
MISSIONARIES 

Proper  Benefits  of  Missions.  No  one  would 
claim  that  the  Christian  missionary  enterprise,  or 
even  the  Christian  faith  itself,  has  been  the  sole 
source  of  recent  progress  in  the  non-Christian 
world.  The  obligation  of  perfect  candor,  which 
rests  on  every  historian,  is  peculiarly  binding  on 
one  who  deals  with  the  facts  or  the  narratives  of 
religious  enterprise.  To  view  all  missionary  sta- 
tistics through  rose-colored  glasses,  ignoring  the 
grim  obstacles  that  face  all  noble  effort,  and  the 
failures  that  are  common  to  all  good  men  at  home 
and  abroad,  is  to  prepare  for  a  rude  awakening 
and  reaction  when  the  full  truth  is  known.  To  sup- 
press discouraging  facts  in  order  to  secure  con- 
tinued support,  or  to  ignore  contributory  causes  in 
order  to  magnify  our  own  effort,  v/ould  be  both 
dishonest  and  suicidal.  The  Book  of  Acts,  the 
first  missionary  journal,  is  in  this  respect  a  marvel 
of  candor.  Belonging  avowedly  to  the  literature 
of  propaganda,  it  nevertheless  does  not  hesitate 
to  record  the  small  results  of  the  magnificent  ad- 
dress on  Mars'  Hill,  the  lamentable  dissension  of 


102       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  the  "  many  adversaries  " 
to  be  faced  at  Ephesus. 

Some  Help  from  Trade  and  Commerce.  There 
is  glory  enough  for  the  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prise, even  when  all  other  powers  have  been  given 
their  full  credit.  Traders  from  Western  lands, 
with  no  altruistic  motive,  have  often  carried  the 
tools  of  civilization  far  and  wide.  Commercial 
companies  are  to-day  sending  thousands  of  plows 
into  Africa,  looms  into  India,  oil  into  China,  sew- 
ing-machines into  the  South  Sea  Islands,  and  are 
constructing  railways,  canals,  and  telephone  lines 
throughout  the  Orient.  It  was  the  United  States 
government  behind  Commodore  Perry  that  com- 
pelled the  opening  of  Japan  in  1853.  It  is  the 
British  government  that  by  the  building  of  the 
great  dam  across  the  Nile  at  Assuan,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  better  methods  of  tilling  the  soil, 
is  now  lifting  the  Egyptian  peasant  out  of  poverty 
six  thousand  years  old.  Applied  science,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  is  reshaping  vast  regions  of 
the  world,  both  East  and  West.  It  is  changing 
ancient  modes  of  life,  creating  new  wants,  put- 
ting Sheffield  cutlery  and  Lancashire  cottons  into 
Bombay  and  Calcutta,  German  rifles  into  Turkey, 
and  American  automobiles  into  Java  and  Borneo. 

The  Christian  Faith  the  Mainspring.  But  when 
all  this  has  been  admitted,  it  remains  true  that  the 
mainspring  of  human  progress  has  been  for  nine- 
teen hundred  years,  and  is  to-day,  the  Christian 
faith.     The  moral  dynamic  that  transformed  our 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       103 

wild  forefathers,  the  Saxons,  Celts,  and  Scandina- 
vians, into  civilized  nations  was  not  science — then 
unborn — not  politics,  literature,  or  art;  it  was 
Christianity.  And  the  power  that  has  in  the  last 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  aroused  Asia  and 
Africa  and  Oceania  from  the  sleep  of  ages  is  not 
commercial  or  governmental,  but  Christian.  W.  T. 
Stead  was  absolutely  accurate  when  he  wrote: 
*'  South  Africa  is  the  product  of  three  forces — 
conquest,  trade,  and  missions,  and  of  the  three  the 
first  counts  for  the  least,  and  the  last  for  the  great- 
est factor  in  the  expansion  of  civilization  in  Africa, 
Missionaries  have  been  everywhere  the  pioneers  of 
empire.  The  frontier  has  advanced  on  the  step- 
ping-stones of  missionary  graves."  ^ 

Frequent  Influence  of  a  Missionary.  Professor 
Caldecott,  of  the  University  of  London,  speaks 
with  the  impartiality  of  a  trained  and  detached 
philosopher  when  he  writes :  *'  The  analysis  of  the 
influence  of  the  Christian  missionary,  settled 
with  an  African  tribe  or  on  a  Pacific  island,  is 
replete  with  interest.  Over  and  over  again  a  single 
individual  has  meant  '  civilization,'  as  well  as  the 
gospel,  to  a  whole  community.  From  him  have 
flowed  influences  regenerating  every  part  of  their 
social  life.  From  one  man's  heart  and  brain  have 
issued  not  only  the  abolition  of  degrading  and  cruel 
customs,  but  the  beginnings  of  new  industrial  or- 
ganization, glimpses  of  science  and  literature,  new 
forms   of   social   order.     And  when   he  has  been 

*  Quoted  in  Stewart  of  Lovedale,  335. 


I04       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

accompanied  by  a  household,  a  new  type  of  do- 
mestic life  has  been  exhibited  and  the  family  set 
in  new  light.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  the 
future  of  the  world  can  ever  again  show  example 
after  example  of  social  elevation  on  so  considerable 
a  scale:  important  tribes  in  South  Africa,  in  the 
Pacific,  in  Madagascar  and  New  Zealand,  among 
the  Red  Indians  of  the  Northwest  and  the  remote 
Eskimos  of  Greenland  and  Labrador  have  come 
to  a  new  birth.  So  clear  has  been  the  elevation 
that  for  many  of  them  it  has  meant  the  entry  into 
the  single  world-circle  now  approaching  com.ple- 
tion."  ' 

Five  Kinds  of  Missionary  Achievement.  How 
has  this  been  accomplished?  What  definite  steps 
have  missionaries  taken  to  bring  the  non-Christian 
nations  within  the  ''  single  world-circle  "  of  Chris- 
tian civilization?  There  are  five  kinds  of  mission- 
ary achievement  well  worth  our  study :  achievement 
in  language  and  literature,  in  the  education  of  the 
mind,  in  the  healing  of  the  body,  in  industrial  de- 
velopment, and  in  social  reform.  We  shall  con- 
sider each  of  these  five  in  turn. 

I.  Language  and  Literature.  The  translation  of 
Christian  literature  into  non-Christian  tongues  is 
a  herculean  task,  involving  in  many  cases  the  crea- 
tion of  a  written  language.  The  Bible,  or  a  large 
part  of  it,  has  been  translated  into  about  five  hun- 
dred distinct  languages  and  dialects,  and  nearly  one 
half  of  these  languages  had  first  to  be  reduced  to 
*  G.  Spiller,  Inter-Racial  Problems,  307. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       105 

writing.^  It  is  easy  to  record  such  a  fact,  but  who 
can  measure  the  appalling  toil  involved,  or  the 
enormous  human  uplift  resulting?  Who  but  mis- 
sionaries, moved  by  a  world-conquering  impulse, 
would  undertake  it  ?  These  five  hundred  languages 
vary  all  the  way  from  the  ancient  Sanskrit  to  the 
modern  Zulu.  The  translations  of  the  Bible  com- 
prise the  Eskimo  version,  now  two  centuries  old, 
and  the  Singhalese  revision,  issued  in  Ceylon,  in 
1910.  There  are  twenty  versions  in  twenty  different 
dialects  of  colloquial  Chinese,  and  seventy  versions 
are  now  being  distributed  among  the  polyglot  peo- 
ples of  India.  Most  of  the  original  dialects  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  were  reduced  to  writing  by  the 
missionaries.  Would  any  trading  company  attempt 
to  reduce  to  writing  even  one  dialect?  Would  any 
European  philologist  bury  himself  for  a  lifetime 
in  Tahiti,  in  New  Guinea,  in  Sumatra,  in  order  to 
give  the  natives  a  written  speech  ?  In  the  South  Sea 
Islands  a  score  of  dialects  have  been  provided  with 
alphabet,  grammar,  and  printed  literature,  and  in 
every  case  this  has  been  done  by  self-sacrificing 
missionary  labor. 

Difficulties  of  Translation.  To  translate  from 
English  into  French  or  German  is  easy, — though 
American  students  do  not  seem  to  think  so, — since 
ever>^  idea  in  English  has  its  exact  equivalent  in 
European  tongues.    But  when  we  attempt  to  trans- 

^  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress  has  been  printed  in  one 
hundred  different  versions,  and  the  plays  of  Shakespeare 
have  appeared  in  twenty-seven  versions. 


io6       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

late  into  even  the  finest  of  non-Christian  tongues, 
we  face  all  the  barriers  created  by  an  alien  culture 
and  a  wholly  different  intellectual  heritage.  Often 
there  are  no  equivalent  words,  because  the  idea  we 
are  trying  to  express  has  never  entered  the  non- 
Christian  mind.  It  is  not  easy  to  translate  '*  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  "  to  people  that  have  never  seen 
a  lamb.  To  convey  the  Biblical  symbolism  of  the 
vine  and  the  palm  and  the  dove,  and  to  set  forth 
the  elaborate  Jewish  ritual  in  the  dialects  of  the 
frozen  north,  is  not  a  simple  matter.  To  translate 
the  gorgeous  visions  of  Isaiah,  the  plain  prose  of 
the  four  Gospels,  and  the  metaphysical  arguments 
of  the  Pauline  epistles,  in  which  even  the  apostle 
Peter  found  "  some  things  hard  to  be  understood  " 
— to  do  that,  even  in  our  English  speech,  is  a  task 
so  stupendous  that  it  has  employed  the  energies 
of  English  scholars  for  the  last  four  centuries.  But 
to  translate  all  this  varied  literature  so  as  to  make 
it  intelligible  and  commanding  to  the  mystical  minds 
of  India,  and  the  practical  minds  of  China,  and 
the  childish  minds  of  the  Kongo  Valley,  is  perhaps 
the  greatest  literary  task  known  to  history,  and  its 
virtual  accomplishment  is  one  of  the  greajt  tri- 
umphs of  human  intelligence. 

Some  Examples.  In  some  dialects  the  word  love 
has  a  carnal  meaning  which  the  translator  must 
avoid.  In  China  the  missionaries  have  for  many 
years  debated  whether  the  proper  word  for  God 
is  Shang  Ti,  Supreme  Ruler,  or  Tien  Chu,  Lord 
of  Heaven.     Professor  Robertson,  who  is  lecturing 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       107 

in  many  Chinese  cities  on  the  principles  of  mod- 
ern science,  has  been  obliged  to  invent  Chinese 
terms  for  aeroplane,  radio-activity,  gyroscope,  find- 
ing a  new  dress  for  totally  new  ideas.  But  it  is 
far  easier  to  describe  radium  than  to  explain  grace, 
faith,  atonement,  eternal  life.  It  is  vastly  simpler 
to  convey  the  principle  of  the  aeroplane  than  to 
convey  the  idea  of  salvation  by  faith  to  a  Buddhist 
who  has  been  trained  from  infancy  in  the  idea 
of  self-salvation  by  achievement  of  merit.  Wil- 
liam Carey  described  in  1796  the  obstacles  he  found 
in  the  Bengali  tongue :  *'  Now  I  must  mention  some 
of  the  difficulties  under  which  we  labor,  particu- 
larly myself.  .  .  .  Though  the  language  is  rich, 
beautiful,  and  expressive,  yet  the  poor  people  whose 
whole  concern  has  been  to  get  a  little  rice  to  sat- 
isfy their  wants  .  .  .  have  scarcely  a  word  in  use 
about  religion.  They  have  no  word  for  love,  for 
repent,  and  a  thousand  other  things,  and  every  idea 
is  expressed  either  by  quaint  phrases  or  tedious 
circumlocutions.  .  .  .  This  sometimes  discourages 
me  much."  ^ 

Languages  of  Savage  Tribes.  But  if  these  bar- 
riers are  encountered  in  the  most  highly  developed 
languages  of  the  Orient,  what  may  the  missionary 
expect  in  trying  to  break  his  way  into  the  dialect 
of  barbarous  or  savage  tribes  ?  Some  of  those  dia- 
lects are,  like  the  one  of  which  Charles  Darwin 
speaks :  ''  A  language  of  clicks  and  grunts  and 
squeaks  and  hiccoughs."  The  English  alphabet 
^  George  Smith,  The  Life  of  William  Carey,  87. 


io8       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

is  altogether  incapable  of  representing  such 
sounds,  and  the  English-speaking  throat  cannot 
undergo  the  convulsions  required  for  uttering 
them.  Aspirates  and  gutturals  and  nameless  conso- 
nants, deprived  of  all  vowels,  crowd  the  sentence. 
The  pioneer  missionary  must  start  with :  "  What 
is  this?  What  is  that?"  Then  with  the  slender 
apparatus  of  twenty-six  English  letters  (or  others 
he  may  invent)  he  must  put  down  these  sounds 
on  paper  or  bark  or  skin.  Then  from  the  simplest 
roots,  full  of  material  meaning,  he  must,  with  new 
endings,  or  by  new  combinations,  build  up  words  to 
express  "  God  is  spirit,"  "  Keep  thyself  pure,"  "  I 
give  unto  them  eternal  life  " !  The  process  is  like 
trying  to  paint  a  sunrise  with  lumps  of  clay.  The 
apostle  Paul  found  the  marvelous  resources  of  the 
Greek  tongue  altogether  inadequate  for  "  my  gos- 
pel," and  was  obliged  to  pour  new  meaning  into 
such  words  as  "  humility "  and  "  service "  and 
"  eternity."  Thanks  to  the  general  diffusion  of  the 
Greek  tongue,  he  never  attempted  to  translate  his 
message  to  the  barbarians  of  Malta  or  the  mountain 
tribes  of  Asia  Minor.  Through  one  language  he 
reached  the  world  he  knew,  while  his  successors 
must  reach  the  world  we  know  through  the  five 
hundred  dialects  already  made  into  vehicles  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Surely  it  has  been  the  task  of  the 
missionary  "  to  undo  the  curse  of  Babel  and  carry 
out  the  blessing  of  Pentecost." 

Instances   in   Africa.      In   Africa    the    work   of 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       109 

translation  has  gone  on  steadily,  from  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  by  Dr.  Moffat  in  1820  down  to 
the  present  moment.  The  linguistic  poverty  of 
some  African  tribes  has  been  pitiful.  *'  Outside  of 
the  Barbary  States,  Egypt,  and  Abyssinia,  with  the 
single  exception  of  some  traces  of  the  Haussa  litera- 
ture, there  is — in  marked  contrast  to  China  and  In- 
dia— not  a  single  tribe  with  a  literature  or  even 
an  alphabet  of  its  own.^  Rev.  E.  H.  Richards,  who 
invented  a  written  language  for  certain  tribes  in 
the  Province  of  Mozambique,  writes :  "  These  peo- 
ple had  never  heard  of  ink  until  we  brought  it  to 
them.  There  was  no  history,  no  book,  no  diction- 
ary, no  alphabet,  not  a  single  idea  as  to  how  thought 
and  words  could  be  transferred  to  paper.  .  .  . 
They  could  not  tell  what  paper  was,  but  called  it 
a  '  leaf/  the  same  as  the  leaf  on  a  tree.''  ^ 

Reward  of  Skill  and  Patience.  But  the  mission- 
aries have  unlocked  such  languages  with  amazing 
skill  and  tireless  patience.  The  Comparative  Hand- 
book of  Congo  Languages  appeared  a  few  years 
ago,  and  a  Kaffir  dictionary  was  published  in  1910. 
The  Livingstonia  Mission  has  done  heroic  work  in 
translation,  and  it  was  mentioned  in  one  of  the 
British  Commissioner's  Reports  as  "  first  as  regards 
the  value  of  its  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of 
African    languages."       Its    members    have    been 


^  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol.  I,  Carrying  the  Gos- 
pel, 205. 

'  J.  S.  Dennis,  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  Vol. 
Ill,  419. 


no       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

obliged  to  master  eight  languages  or  tongues,  and 
to  work  with  five  others.  Two  and  a  half  millions 
of  people  were  able  to  read  the  Nyanja  Testament 
as  soon  as  they  could  read  at  alV 

Other  Marvels  in  Africa.  Mr.  Dan  Crawford 
has  recently  come  out  of  Central  Africa  after 
twenty-three  years  of  service  without  a  furlough, 
and  has  carried  to  Oxford  for  the  inspection  of 
English  scholars  his  reduction  to  writing  of  the 
language  of  the  cannibals.  He  affirms  that  he  has 
found  the  natives  of  high  intelligence,  eager  to 
learn  the  white  man's  method  of  speaking  cai  pa- 
per. He  has  found  verbs  with  no  less  than  thirty- 
two  tenses  (several  future  tenses,  e.g.,  I  will  come, 
I  will  come  in  a  few  minutes,  I  will  come  after 
many  years,  I  will  come  if  something  occurs,  etc.) 
and  nouns  with  twelve  genders  (or  genera,  classes). 
Yet  in  this  surprising  tongue  no  word  had  ever 
been  written  until  Mr.  Crawford  broke  in,  mastered 
its  secret,  and  made  it  visible  to  all  the  world.  The 
process  by  which  he  did  this  is  appropriately  called 
*'  thinking  black."^  No  wonder  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston 
wrote:  ''Huge  is  the  debt  which  philologists . owe 
to  the  labors  of  British  missionaries  in  Africa !  By 
evangelists  of  our  own  nationality  nearly  two  hun- 
dred African  languages  and  dialects  have  been  illus- 
trated by  grammars,  dictionaries,  vocabularies,  and 
translations  of  the  Bible.     Many  of  these  tongues 

^  Ellen  C.   Parsons,  Christus  Liberator,  231. 
"  Thinking  Black, 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       iii 

were  on  the  point  of  extinction  and  have  since  be- 
come extinct,  and  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  them 
solely  to  the  missionaries'  intervention."  ^ 

Success  of  Carey  and  Martyn.  In  India  a  new 
era  was  created  by  the  linguistic  achievements 
of  the  distinguished  missionary  and  Orientalist, 
William  Carey.  He  translated  the  Bible  either  in 
whole  or  in  part,  either  alone  or  with  others,  into 
twenty-eight  Indian  languages.  A  fire  in  the  print- 
ing house  at  Serampur  destroyed  his  astonishing 
Dictionary  of  All  Sanskrit-derived  Languages,  but 
numerous  grammars  and  dictionaries  survive  in 
many  tongues  to  attest  his  genius.  Henry  Martyn, 
whose  talents  had  made  him  senior  wrangler  at 
Cambridge  University,  completed  his  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  into  Hindustani  in  1808. 
Four  years  later  he  died,  while  taking  a  journey 
of  fifteen  hundred  miles  on  horseback,  having  at- 
tempted to  put  his  Persian  translation  into  the  hands 
of  the  Persian  monarch. 

Judson's  Translation  in  Burma.  Adoniram  Jud- 
son  finished  his  monumental  translation  of  the  en- 
tire Bible  into  Burmese  in  1834,  after  twenty-one 
years  of  incredible  toil.  At  the  age  of  fifty-six  he 
wrote :  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  I  can  now  say  I  have 
attained.  I  have  knelt  down  before  him  with  the 
last  leaf  in  my  hand.  .  .  .  May  he  make  his  own 
inspired  Word  now  complete  in  the  Burmese  tongue, 
the  grand  instrument  of  filling  all  Burma  with  songs 

*  British  Central  Africa,  205. 


112       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

of   praise    to    our   great    God    and   Savior    Testis 
Christ."  ^ 

Morrison  and  Williams  in  China.  The  Chinese 
language  offers  to  the  foreigner  perhaps  more  for- 
midable difficulties  than  does  any  other.  A  lan- 
guage without  an  alphabet  or  a  grammar,  requiring 
from  six  to  ten  thousand  separate  characters  for 
ordinary  printing,  it  is  commonly  said  to  need  ten 
years  of  a  missionary's  life  to  acquire  it.  "  To 
learn  Chinese,"  cried  Dr.  Milne,  "  is  work  for  men 
with  bodies  of  brass,  lungs  of  steel,  heads  of  oak, 
hands  of  spring  steel,  eyes  of  eagles,  hearts  of 
apostles,  memories  of  angels,  and  lives  of  Methuse- 
lah." ^  But  into  this  language — voluminous,  com- 
plex, artificial,  elaborate  beyond  description — Rob- 
ert Morrison,  with  the  help  of  Milne,  translated 
the  entire  Bible,  and  completed  its  printing  in  1819. 
Not  content  with  this,  he  prepared  a  Chinese  dic- 
tionary of  such  value  that  it  was  published  by  the 
East  India  Company  at  an  expense  of  $60,000. 
But  this  dictionary  was  partially  superseded  by  the 
great  work  of  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams — in  later  life 

*  Most  instructive  is  the  contrast  between  this  record  and 
that  of  the  historian  Gibbon  on  completing  his  great  Decline 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire:  "  I  wrote  the  last  lines  of 
the  last  page  in  a  summer  house  in  my  garden,  .  .  .  The 
air  was  temperate,  the  sky  serene,  the  silver  orb  of  the  moon 
was  reflected  from  the  waters,  and  all  nature  was  silent.  I 
will  not  dissemble  the  first  emotions  of  joy  on  the  recovery 
of  my  freedom,  and,  perhaps,  the  establishment  of  my  fame. 
.  .  .  But  whatsoever  might  be  the  future  fate  of  my  history, 
the  life  of  the  historian  must  be  short  and  precarious." 
— A  u  tobiography . 

^  A.  T.  Pierson,  The  Modern  Missionary  Century,  104. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       113 

Professor  of  Chinese  Literature  at  Yaie — who  pub- 
lished at  Shanghai  in  1874  his  Syllabic  Dictionai^ 
of  the  Chinese  Language,  containing  over  twelve 
thousand  characters  and  their  pronunciation  in  four 
dialects. 

Work  of  Dr.  Richard.  The  work  of  Dr.  Tim- 
othy Richard,  secretary  of  the  Christian  Literature 
Society,  has  for  forty-five  years  been  a  leavening 
force  throughout  all  China.  The  writer  recently 
saw  him  at  his  desk  in  Shanghai,  surrounded  by 
his  Chinese  assistants  and  translators,  in  a  small 
office  that  is  as  influential  as  the  headquarters  of 
any  foreign  embassy  in  Peking.  On  the  shelves 
were  the  Chinese  versions,  made  by  the  society,  of 
some  two  hundred  standard  English  books,  relig- 
ious, scientific,  historical,  medical,  philosophical, 
economic.  These,  with  almost  innumerable  smaller 
works,  have  been  scattered  for  four  decades  through 
the  empire,  and  studied  by  Chinese  students  and 
literati.  The  world  sees  the  revolution  and  the 
republic — it  does  not,  cannot,  see  the  causes  behind 
the  event.  It  sees  the  explosion,  not  the  planting 
of  the  mine.  It  sees  the  Manchus  driven  out;  it 
cannot  see  the  great  economic  and  religious  truths 
driven  in  by  a  half  century  of  silent,  ceaseless  pub- 
lication. But  when  ten  thousand  Christian  women 
in  China  united  in  presenting  to  the  Empress 
Dowager  on  her  sixtieth  birthday  a  magnificent 
copy  of  the  Bible,  and  when  the  young  Emperor 
eagerly  began  to  read  it,  then  at  last  the  heedless 


114       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

world  began  to  realize  that  even  the  haughty  Mid- 
dle Kingdom  stood  on  the  brink  of  change. 

Record  in  Japan.  Fifty  years  ago  no  part  of  the 
Bible  had  been  translated  into  Japanese,  and  the 
laws  forbade  the  circulation  of  the  Bible  in  any 
language.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the  so-called 
*'  Authorized  Version  "  was  made,  and  that  is  now 
being  revised.  In  191 2  was  puWished  the  first  life 
of  Christ  written  by  a  Japanese,  the  work  of  Pro- 
fessor Toranosuke  Yamada  of  the  Methodist  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  In  the  same  year  were  published 
translations  of  Dr.  Orr's  The  Virgin  Birth  of 
Christ  and  Bishop  Gore's  The  Lord's  Prayer.  A 
varied  Christian  literature  is  now  printed  and  cir- 
culated throughout  the  Japanese  empire — in  whose 
museums  may  still  be  seen  the  bronze  figures  of 
Christ  on  which  the  Christians  of  sixty  years  ago 
were  cruelly  compelled  to  trample  as  a  proof  that 
they  had  abjured  the  Christian  faith. 

Power  of  the  Press.  Indeed,  the  printing-press 
has  become  one  of  the  chief  powers  in  the  non- 
Christian  world.  The  Chinese  agency  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  disposed  of  nearly  one  mil- 
lion copies  of  the  Scriptures  during  the  first  six 
months  of  the  year  1913.  But  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society  has  doubtless  issued  as  many, 
and  the  Bible  Society  of  Scotland  half  as  many. 
Therefore,  about  five  million  Bibles  or  portions  of 
the  Bible  in  Chinese  were  issued  in  1913  by  those 
three  agencies.  And  the  presses  on  the  foreign  field 
are  doing  rapidly  increasing  work.     "  To-day  one 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       ii^ 

'  hundred  and  sixty  presses  are  conducted  by  the 
Protestant  mission  boards  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  and  they  issue  annually  about  four  hundred 
million  pages  of  Christian  literature  and  the  Word 
of  God.  .  .  .  The  mission  press  in  Beirut,  Syria, 
is  probably  doing  as  much  as  all  other  agencies  com- 
bined to  influence  the  Mohammedan  world,  for 
there  the  Bible  is  printed  in  the  language  that  is 
spoken  by  two  hundred  million  souls.  .  .  .  The  peo- 
ples of  Asia  are  not  so  much  accustomed  to  public 
discourse  as  Western  races.  The  priests  of  the 
native  religions  seldom  or  never  preach,  and  it  is 
much  more  difficult  to  influence  people  in  that  way 
than  it  is  in  England  and  America."  ^ 

Replacing  Evil  with  Good.  Buddhism  made  its 
extraordinary  advance  largely  by  the  circulation  of 
the  teachings  of  Buddha  and  the  legends  of  his 
life,  apart  from  all  public  assemblies.  The  mod- 
ern world  is  becoming  "  eye-minded  " ;  it  under- 
stands only  what  it  sees  in  black  and  white.  Mil- 
lions are  learning  to  read  in  all  lands,  and  millions 
find  nothing  worth  reading.  The  new  reading 
classes  in  India  are  fed  on  cheap  sensational  ver- 
nacular newspapers,  on  legends  about  popular  dei- 
ties, and  on  books  of  the  songs  sung  by  dancing- 
girls,  corrupt  and  defiling.  Over  against  this  trivial 
or  debasing  literature  we  have  the  work  of  fifty- 
three  publishing  houses  in  India  which  are  printing 
131  newspapers  and  magazines,  besides  thousands 

^  Arthur  J.  Brown,  The  Why  and  How  of  Foreign  Missions, 
127  ff. 


ii6       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  books  and  leaflets.  The  Christian  Literature  So- 
ciety for  India  printed  in  191 1  over  6oo,ocmd  vol- 
umes containing  over  52,ocx),ooo  pages.  If,  as 
Napoleon  said,  "  to  replace  is  to  conquer,"  these 
printing  houses  are  conquering  the  Orient  by  re- 
placing licentious  vernacular  novels,  cheap,  inflam- 
matory newspapers,  and  degrading  stories  of  gods 
and  men,  v^ith  a  v^holesome  literature  irradiated  by 
Christian  ideals.  All  this  Christian  literature  brings 
its  message  primarily,  indeed,  to  the  individual,  but, 
because  the  printed  page  may  present  the  same  mes- 
sage, at  the  same  time,  to  thousands  of  readers,  it 
becomes  a  powerful  social  and  unifying  influence. 
2.  Education.  Let  us  now  turn  to  the  second  form 
of  social  service  rendered  by  missionaries, — in  the 
field  of  education.  After  all,  printed  books  and 
papers  are  useless  to  those  who  cannot  read  them, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  two  thirds  of  the  human 
race  to-day  can  neither  read  nor  write.  After  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  British  rule  in  India, 
the  **  Indians  who  can  read  and  write  number  only 
98  per  1,000  in  the  case  of  males  and  7  per  1,000 
in  the  case  of  females."  ^  We  usually  speak  of 
the  Chinese  as  an  educated  people,  and  the  govern- 
ing classes  have  indeed  been  through  a  strenuous 
intellectual  discipline.  But  the  vast  majority  of 
the  people  have  not  mastered  the  complicated 
ideographs  sufficiently  to  read  a  newspaper.  ''  A 
fair  estimate  would  be  that  only  one  in  twenty  of 

*  Year  Book  of  Missions  in  India,  1912,  p.  37. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       117 

the  male  sex  can  read  intelligently."  ^  In  Eg}^pt 
only  one  person  in  seventeen  can  read.  As  re- 
gards the  illiteracy  of  Central  Africa,  and  the  South 
Sea  Islands  nothing  need  be  said.  The  great  mass 
of  humanity  has  no  conception  of  the  use  of  a  writ- 
ten or  printed  sign  to  convey  an  idea.  To  them  a 
religion  whose  ten  commandments  were  "  graven  in 
stone,"  whose  founder  is  known  to  us  only  through 
the  precious  writings  of  his  disciples,  whose  teach- 
ings are  enshrined  in  an  immortal  book — such  a 
religion  is  shadowy  and  well-nigh  meaningless  until 
they  have  learned  to  read.  Hence  all  missionaries 
in  every  field — whatever  their  theory  of  the  mis- 
sionary *'  motive  "  or  "  program  " — have  found  a 
place  for  the  education  of  the  natives.  While  there 
are  sharp  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  relative 
importance  of  education  and  evangelism,  the  mis- 
sionary who  ignores  education  is  simply  divorcing 
Christianity  from  intelligence.  The  map  of  every 
non-Christian  land  is  to-day  dotted  with  Christian 
schools,  from  kindergarten  to  university,  and  from 
them  has  gone  forth  a  stream  of  men  who  are  now 
shaping  Oriental  civilization. 

Effects  in  Turkey.  In  no  other  part  of  the  field 
has  there  been  so  much  emphasis  on  Christian 
schools  as  in  Turkey.  The  jealous  fanaticism  of 
the  Mohammedans  has  made  direct  evangelization 
among  them  well-nigh  impossible.  To  preach  the 
Christian  faith  in  the  streets  of  a  Turkish  city  has 

^  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  January,  1912. 


ii8       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

been  to  court  a  speedy  death.  But  the  schools  fur- 
nish an  indirect  approach.  The  education  furnished 
by  the  Turkish  government  is  so  antique  and  so 
meager  that  enlightened  Mohammedans  brave  the 
danger  to  their  religion,  and  often  send  their  chil- 
dren to  Christian  schools.  In  these  schools  usually 
there  is  no  direct  attempt  to  make  proselytes,  as  in 
some  other  lands,  but  in  all  of  them  attendance  at 
Christian  v^orship  is  required,  the  instruction  is  by 
Christian  teachers,  and  Christian  ideals  permeate 
the  whole  atmosphere.  W.  T.  Stead  in  his  pic- 
turesque journalistic  style  has  described  some  of 
his  impressions :  "  How  often  have  I  wished  dur- 
ing my  visits  to  Turkey  that  Christian  ministers 
would  let  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  rest  for  awhile, 
and  instead  tell  their  congregations  something  of 
the  acts  of  the  modern  apostles  who  are  laboring 
to-day  in  the  very  countries  that  enjoyed  the  min- 
istry of  Saint  Paul.  .  .  .  When  I  get  sick  and 
weary  over  the  contemplation  of  the  mean  intrigues, 
the  squalid  ambitions,  and  the  unscrupulous  doings 
of  politicians,  I  find  an  unfailing  refreshment  for 
my  soul  in  remembering  the  heroic  pioneer  work 
that  is  being  done  in  the  dominions  of  the  Sultan 
by  citizens  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  Private 
American  citizens,  subscribing  out  of  their  own 
pockets  sums  that  in  fifty  years  may  have  equaled 
the  amount  spent  to  build  one  modern  ironclad, 
have  left  in  every  province  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 
the  imprint  of  their  intelligence  and  of  their  char- 
acter. ...  It  is  not  a  small  thing  to  have  laid  the 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       119 

foundation  of  a  new  state,  to  have  given  shape  to 
the  latest  aspirations  of  a  nationality — and  that  is 
what  the  Americans  did  when  they  cradled  the  Bul- 
garian kingdom  in  the  classrooms  of  Robert  Col- 
lege. Even  greater  work  than  this  they  have  done 
and  are  doing."  ^ 

American  Board  Schools.  The  remarkable  work 
done  at  Robert  College,  whose  superb  site  on  the 
Bosporus  near  Constantinople  is  even  more  com- 
manding than  that  of  Cornell  or  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  caught  the  attention  of  the  whole  world 
when,  in  the  recent  Balkan  War,  it  was  found  that 
the  ideals  of  freedom  possessing  the  Balkan  States 
were  largely  acquired  through  the  education  of  the 
leaders  in  the  Christian  colleges  of  Turkey.  On  a 
site  not  far  from  Robert  College  are  now  rising  the 
fine  new  buildings  of  the  American  College  for 
Girls.  The  American  Board  alone  has  established 
and  developed  eleven  colleges  and  theological  or 
training-schools  in  Turkey.  Besides  the  two  at 
Constantinople,  there  are  others  at  Harpoot  (in 
the  Euphrates  Valley),  at  Aintab  (four  days  by 
caravan  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea),  at  Tarsus 
(the  native  city  of  the  apostle  Paul),  at  Marsovan 
(on  the  south  shore  of  the  Black  Sea),  and  at 
Smyrna  (to  which  once  came  the  message :  "  I  know 
thy  poverty,  but  thou  art  rich  ").  The  Syrian  Prot- 
estant College  at  Beirut,  founded  by  missionaries 
but  now  independent  of  the  American  Board,  has 
since  its  incorporation  in  1863  stood  like  a  light- 
^  Americanising  Turkey,  3  ff. 


120       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

house  on  the  shore,  casting  its  ilkiminating  beams, 
not  over  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  but  into  all  the 
cities,  governments,  and  homes  of  the  nearer  East/ 
Such  institutions  are  not  like  Jonah's  gourd,  that 
endured  till  the  sun  grew  hot.  They  are  wrought 
into  the  Eastern  consciousness,  recognized  by  the 
government,  feared  by  Moslem  teachers,  eagerly 
sought  out  by  young  people  (fifteen  nationalities 
sitting  together  in  the  classrooms  of  Robert  Col- 
lege), and  some  of  them  are  destined  to  endure  as 
long  as  the  colleges  founded  by  the  Puritans  in  New 
England. 

New  England  Precedent.  The  experience  of 
the  missionaries  in  India  has  been  a  constant  re- 
enforcement  of  the  value  of  schools  in  Christian 
work.  The  arguments  in  favor  of  education  have 
been  a  repetition  of  the  pleas  set  forth  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago  by  our  fathers,  when  New 
England  was  a  pagan  wilderness.  The  early  colo- 
nists of  Massachusetts  founded  their  first  college 
while  they  were  still  in  the  depths  of  poverty,  in 
want  of  food  and  shelter,  and  menaced  by  the 
treachery  of  the  Indians.     On  the  gateway  before 

^  It  is  of  this  college  that  John  R.  Mott  writes :  "  This  is 
one  of  the  most  important  institutions  in  all  Asia.  In  fact 
there  is  no  college  which  has  within  one  generation  accom- 
plished a  greater  work  and  which  has  to-day  a  larger  oppor- 
tunity. It  has  practically  created  the  medical  profession  in 
the  Levant.  It  has  been  the  most  influential  factor  in  the 
East.  It  has  been,  and  is,  the  center  for  genuine  Christian 
and  scientific  literature  in  all  that  region.  Fully  one  fourth 
of  the  graduates  of  the  collegiate  department  have  entered 
Christian  work,  either  as  preachers  or  as  teachers  in  Chris- 
tian schools." — Sherwood  Eddy,  The  New  Era  in  Asia,  184. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       121 

the  entrance  of  Harvard  University  is  carved  in 
stone  the  notable  utterance  of  those  early  days: 
'*  After  God  had  carried  us  safe  to  New  England 
.  .  .  one  of  the  first  things  we  longed  for  and 
looked  after  was  to  advance  learning  and  perpetu- 
ate it  to  posterity,  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  churches  when  our  present  min- 
isters should  be  in  the  dust."  ^  But  if  an  illiterate 
ministry  is  dangerous  in  Christian  America,  what 
is  it  amid  the  seductions  and  sophistries  of  Hindu- 
ism in  India?  On  the  records  of  the  oldest  church 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  closely  connected  with 
Brown  University,  is  the  quaint  fecord :  "  This 
meeting-house  was  built  for  the  worship  of  God 
and  to  hold  Commencement  in."  Thus  our  far- 
seeing  fathers  planted  school  and  church  side  by 
side.  Every  argument  for  the  support  of  Chris- 
tian schools  in  America  applies  with  double  force 
to  the  planting  and  development  of  schools  in 
India. 

Effective  in  Conversion.  One  of  the  most  ex- 
perienced of  Indian  missionaries  affirms :  "  I  fear- 
lessly maintain  that  more  conversions  take  place, 
more  accessions  are  made,  through  schools  than 
through  any  other  agency  apart  from  the  Christian 
Church  itself."  ^  One  of  the  wisest  exponents  of 
the  missionary  enterprise  writes  from  Africa  re- 
garding the  remarkable  Livingstonia  mission: 
"  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  greatest  pioneer  agency 

*  New  England's  First  Fruits,  12. 

*  J.  P.  Jones,  India's  Problem:  Krishna  or  Christ,  249. 


122       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

for  Christianity  has  been  the  schools.  I  do  not 
think  that  one  ever  finds  an  isolated  declaration  of 
our  spiritual  message  break  with  startling  sudden- 
ness in  a  native's  mind,  and  lead  him  into  the  obe- 
dience of  Christ.  A  vast  deal  of  reiteration,  and 
simple  teaching  of  each  theme  and  each  demand 
of  the  gospel  are  necessary,  before  men  understand 
how  great  Christ's  claims  are,  and  where  the  way 
of  salvation  lies.  This  is  the  main  use  of  the 
schools  to  the  mission.  Their  daily  Bible  lesson 
and  daily  worship  gradually  awakened  the  people 
to  the  message  of  the  gospel,  and  it  was  chiefly  from 
within  the  schools  that  the  first  converts  were  ob- 
tained. There  are  now  735  village  schools  with 
47,000  pupils  on  the  rolls."  ^ 

Cooperation  of  Indian  Government.  And  these 
opinions  are  in  exact  accord  with  the  attitude  of 
the  brilliant  group  of  missionaries  who  entered  In- 
dia at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
first  Indian  college  was  founded  at  Serampur  in 
1818.  Two  years  before  that  time  the  Serampur 
missionaries  reported  that  they  had  given  instruc- 
tion to  not  less  than  10,000  children  in  their  schools. 
Those  missionaries  powerfully  influenced  the 
Indian  government,  and  in  1854  a  comprehensive 
system  of  Indian  education  was  announced,  includ- 
ing "  grants-in-aid  "  to  schools  established  by  pri- 
vate means.  This  kind  of  assistance  is  now  re- 
ceived   (some   schools    refusing  to   receiv^e  it,    or 

^  Donald  Fraser,  International  Review  of  Missions,  April, 
1913. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       123 

to  enter  into  any  alliance  with  the  state)  by  most 
of  the  mission  schools  that  come  up  to  the  standards 
required  by  the  English  government.  Under  Prot- 
estant missionary  societies  there  are  now  in  India 
over  13,000  elementary  schools — including  thirty 
kindergartens — with  nearly  half  a  million  pupils. 
Often  the  teacher  in  one  of  these  rural  schools  is 
the  only  educated  person  in  the  village,  and  so 
commands  high  respect  and  authority.  The  par- 
ticular benefits  of  such  schools  are  these : 

(i)  They  give  training  to  the  children  of  Chris- 
tian parents,  and  thus  equip  them  for  a  career  of 
usefulness  and  honor. 

(2)  They  give  to  the  missionary  access  to  plas- 
tic minds  not  yet  blinded  by  false  teaching  or  seared 
by  sensual  living. 

(3)  They  furnish  a  point  of  contact  with  the 
homes  around  them,  and  a  bond  of  sympathy  be- 
tween the  Christian  teacher  and  the  non-Christian 
community. 

(4)  They  train  leaders,  both  ministers  and  lay- 
men, for  the  native  Church,  which  without  native 
leadership  can   never  prosper. 

(5)  They  diffuse  knowledge  of  the  Christian 
Bible,  Christian  songs,  and  Christian  habits  and 
ideals  through  all  the  surrounding  population. 

Mission  Schools  Develop  Native  Leaders.  For 
the  development  of  native  leaders  the  work  of 
the  high  schools  and  colleges  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial. India  has  now  thirty-eight  institutions  of 
collegiate   rank  conducted  by  Protestant  mission- 


124       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

ary  societies.  In  these  colleges  are  over  6,000  stu- 
dents. In  all  of  them  the  Bible  has  foremost  place, 
in  all  of  them  the  ethical  standards  are  those  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  all  of  them  are  doing  much 
to  counteract  the  defects  of  the  government  schools, 
which,  with  high  intellectual  standards,  enforce  ab- 
solute neutrality  in  religion. 

A  Searching  Question.  With  all  these  schools  in 
operation,  working  on  the  minds  of  a  remarkable 
race,  it  would  seem  that  India  after  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  effort  should  be  fairly  well  sup- 
plied with  native  leaders  of  native  churches  and 
schools.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  Where  are  the 
native  Indian  prophets,  poets,  administrators,  lead- 
ers, that  we  might  reasonably  expect?  Where  is 
the  Indian  apostle  who  shall  lead  in  a  crusade  to 
capture  Indian  cities  for  the  Christian  faith? 
Where  is  the  Indian  thinker  who  shall  expound 
Christianity  in  terms  of  Indian  thought  ?  Why  are 
some  Indian  churches  after  many  years  of  train- 
ing as  dependent  on  the  foreigners'  advice  and  the 
foreigners'  gifts  as  they  were  fifty  years  ago?  The 
Year  Book  of  Missions  in  India  laments  that  the 
non-Christian  Hindu  teacher  is  frequently  employed 
in  Christian  schools,  and  ''  must  continue  there  until 
his  successor  can  be  found  in  the  person  of  the 
Indian  Christian  who  is  intellectually  and  spiritu- 
ally equipped  for  the  task  which  is  awaiting  him. 
...  It  is  high  time  that  we  learn  the  cause  of  fail- 
ure." ^  Such  a  candid  admission  in  missionary 
^  1912,  p.  280. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       125 

literature  is  most  encouraging.  Why  cannot  native 
Christian  teachers  be  found?  Is  the  cause  in  the 
inherent  moral  weakness  of  the  lower  classes  of 
Indian  society?  in  past  mistakes  of  method?  in 
unwise  use  of  foreign  money?  or  where?  We  shall 
return  to  this  problem  later.  The  solution  is  cer- 
tainly not  in  diminishing  our  interest  in  schools. 
In  India,  as  in  other  lands,  they  will  yet  produce 
the  leaders  of  the  nation. 

Educational  Departure  in  China.  That  is  pre- 
cisely what  Christian  schools  have  done  and  are 
doing  in  China  and  Japan.  The  old  examination 
system  of  China  has  been  described  in  a  previous 
chapter.  It  was  curiously  artificial,  but  as  it  was 
the  sole  avenue  to  public  service,  it  gave  the  scholar 
greater  honor  in  China  than  he  has  ever  received 
anywhere  else  in  the  world.  The  Chinese  scholar 
could  compose  stiff  and  stilted  poems,  he  could  re- 
cite memoriter  whole  books  of  Confucius  and  Men- 
cius,  he  could  decide  the  finest  points  of  etiquette; 
but  he  despised  the  whole  world  outside  of  China, 
and  disdained  science,  history,  geography,  and 
world  politics.  At  length  even  the  Empress  Dowa- 
ger perceived  some  of  the  defects  of  the  educational 
method,  and  the  vast  illiteracy  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, and  in  1905  an  imperial  edict  suddenly  abolished 
the  whole  system  of  examinations.  At  one  stroke 
of  the  ''  vermilion  pencil "  it  was  directed  that 
schools  be  everywhere  established  and  that  in  them 
'*  Western  learning  "  should  be  taught.  At  once 
thousands  of  the  old  schools  fell  into  decay,  and 


126       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

tens  of  thousands  of  teachers  were  without  employ- 
ment. Soon  fourteen  thousand  Chinese  young  men 
were  studying  in  Japan,  which  had  already  adopted 
Western  ways,  and  several  hundred  were  in  the 
United  States.  The  educational  revolution  of  1905 
was  the  antecedent  and  the  real  cause  of  the  po- 
litical revolution  of   19 12. 

College  of  Shanghai.  But  when  the  Chinese 
sought  for  Western  learning  they  found  it  was 
already  among  them — in  the  Christian  schools  that 
they  had  always  despised  and  frequently  sup- 
pressed. Here  at  their  doors,  or  rather  inside 
their  doors,  were  schools  and  colleges  modeled  after 
the  best  in  Europe  and  America.  St.  John's  Col- 
lege at  Shanghai  has  in  a  quarter  century  developed 
from  a  poorly-equipped  grammar  school  into  a 
genuine  college  equal  in  grade  to  Amherst  or  Dart- 
mouth, and  with  a  student  body  numbering  500. 
Its  constructive  influence  is  felt  throughout  China. 
A  former  student  and  teacher  is  now  Chinese  am- 
bassador to  Germany;  a  younger  graduate  is  sec- 
retary to  President  Yuan  Shi-kai;  another  is  China's 
ambassador  to  the  United  States.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  alumni  of  such  a  college  have  just  com- 
pleted a  fund  of  $10,000  to  erect  a  memorial  build- 
ing to  commemorate  the  twenty-five  years  of  Presi- 
dent  Pott's   administration. 

Leading  Schools  at  Canton.  At  Canton,  on  an 
island  in  the  river  and  opposite  the  huge  city,  is 
the  Canton  Christian  College,  an  independent  but 
thoroughly  Christian  school.    The  Dean  of  the  col- 


AMERICAN    COLLEGE,    MADURA,    IXDL\ 
Affiliated   with    }iladras   University,    645    students 


PKK1.\(,     L".\l\I-.R>rr\".     l'FJ\IX(,.     UilAA 
1,600   students 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       127 

lege  has  been  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the 
entire  province,  and  he  began  his  work  by  direct- 
ing that  the  worship  of  Confucius  should  no  longer 
be  required  in  the  schools.  Adjoining  the  College 
is  the  University  Medical  School,  supported  by  the 
students  and  graduates  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Other  Educational  Centers  of  China.  At  Chang- 
sha,  in  central  China,  there  is  a  hospital  and  medical 
school  known  as  ''  Yale  in  China,"  since  it  is  entirely 
supported  by  Yale  graduates  and  undergraduates. 
Universities  are  now  planned  at  Chengtu  in  west 
China,  at  Nanking  in  the  east,  in  the  Province  of 
Shantung,  and  in  the  capital  city  of  Peking.  At 
Shanghai  is  a  thriving  college  supported  by  the  Bap- 
tists, at  Hangchow  a  college  under  Presbyterian 
auspices,  and  at  Wuchang  is  Boone  University, 
supported  by  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Immense  Educational  Opportunity.  Here  in 
these  Christian  colleges  the  Chinese  find  to-day  the 
very  science  and  history  and  mathematics  and 
geography  and  political  economy  which  the  people 
believe  to  be  the  only  hope  of  the  young  repub- 
lic. And  here  they  find,  whether  they  desire  it 
or  not,  the  Christian  solution  of  all  human  prob- 
lems, and  the  Christian  ideal  of  human  life.  Was 
ever  such  opportunity  offered  before  to  Christian 
schools  ?  A  thousand  Chinese  young  men  are  now 
studying  in  the  United  States — but  what  are  they 
among  so  many?  The  Chinese  government  is  at- 
tempting to   increase  the  number  of  government 


128       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

schools,  but  if  it  were  to  gather  into  schools  as 
large  a  percentage  of  the  population  as  attends 
school  in  Japan,  it  would  need  to  provide  buildings 
'/  and  teachers  for  forty  million  pupils.^  Not  for  a 
hundred  years  to  come  can  the  government  in  China 
care  for  the  education  of  its  own  children.  A  mag- 
nificent opportunity,  a  tremendous  responsibility, 
is  now  before  the  Christian  schools  of  the  ancient 
empire.  The  whole  nation  is  eager  for  knowledge 
of  a  type  their  ancestors  never  knew.  Millions  are 
crying  out  for  the  new  learning  which  is  the  new 
road  to  public  service.  In  the  Christian  schools  are 
text-books  of  geography,  history,  physical  science, 
translated  by  the  missionaries.  In  the  Christian 
schools  are  the  inductive  and  experimental  methods 
which  must  replace  the  old  learning  by  rote.  The 
**  eight-legged "  essay  has  gone  forever,  and  the 
scientific  method  is  supplanting  the  old  devotion 
to  stereotyped  forms  of  literary  art.  The  whole 
country  desires — this  is  not  true  of  any  part  of 
Africa  or  India — what  the  Christian  schools  can 
give.  And  even  in  the  government  schools  there  is 
eagerness  to  understand  the  secret  of  the  power  of 
Christianity. 

Need  of  Teachers.  Recently  the  writer  addressed 
the  students  of  the  government  schools  in  Peking. 
At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  after  study  hours, 
they  gathered  in  the  courtyard  of  an  ancient  yamen, 
or  former  official  residence.  Listening  through  an 
interpreter  is  always  difficult,  but  they  listened  most 
*  F.  L.  Hawks  Pott,   The  Emergency  in  China,  157. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       129 

intently  for  an  hour  to  a  description  of  school  and 
college  life  in  America.  Meanwhile  the  darkness 
was  descending,  and  their  faces  were  fading  out 
in  the  evening  dusk,  until  at  last  only  their  eyes 
could  be  seen,  glowing  like  balls  of  fire  through 
the  deep  shadows.  Then  a  single  lamp  was  lighted, 
and  a  single  young  man  rose  to  make  an  announce- 
ment. *'  Three  weeks  ago  John  R.  Mott  was  here, 
and  told  us  that  the  Bible  Avas  the  secret  of  West- 
ern power.  All  who  wish  to  enroll  in  classes  for 
Eible  study  will  now  have  a  chance  to  do  so."  Then 
the  students  eagerly  pressed  forward,  crowding  one 
another  aside,  struggling  to  be  the  first  to  enroll. 
Not  one  in  twenty-five  was  a  Christian,  but  all  of 
them  believed  that  the  progress  of  Europe  and 
America  was  somehow  due  to  the  Bible,  and  were 
determined  to  investigate  for  themselves  the  cause. 
Then  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Secre- 
tary turned  to  us  in  despair,  saying :  "  Where  can 
we  secure  teachers  for  these  men?  The  regular 
missionaries  are  busy  with  their  own  classes.  The 
foreign  residents  will  not  aid.  We  are  utterly  help- 
less before  this  ever-growing  demand."  And  that 
afternoon  scene  in  Peking  might  easily  be  dupli- 
cated in  many  a  great  Chinese  city  to-day.  In  a 
land  that  for  two  thousand  years  has  revered  the 
scholar,  the  progress  of  Christianity  depends  ab- 
solutely on  educational  enterprise. 

Situation  in  Japan.  In  Japan  the  connection  of 
Church  and  school  is  just  as  vital  as  in  China.  But 
the  situation  is  quite  different,  owing  to  the  fact 


130       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

that  the  government  schools  are  extremely  efficient, 
and  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  population  can  read 
and  write.     Only  missionaries  of  thorough  train- 
ing and  modern  culture  can  appeal  to  the  highly 
trained  minds  of  modern  Japan.    A  type  of  pioneer 
missionary  that  would  be  extremely  useful  in  Poly- 
nesia or  Central  Africa  would  be  quite  useless  in 
Tokyo  or  Kyoto.     Only  thoroughly  trained  Chris- 
tian converts  can  lead  the  congregations  of  Japa- 
nese churches.    The  Doshisha,  a  college  founded  by 
Joseph    Hardy    Neesima,    has    now    two    hundred 
students  in  its  higher  courses,  while  the  total  enrol- 
ment is  1,164.     Many  other  Christian  colleges  and 
schools — five  of  them  in  Tokyo — are  doing  a  de- 
voted and  needed  work.    But  the  excellence  of  the 
government  schools,  their  high  standards  and  ex- 
pensive equipment,  compel  the  missionaries  either 
to  keep  the  pace  set  by  the  government  or  abandon 
all    attempts    at    education.      The    great   need    of 
Japan  is  now  a  central  Christian  university,  inter- 
denominational   in    character,    equipped    for    the 
training  of   the   Christian   leaders   of   to-morrow. 
It  is  finely  said  by  the  editors  of   The  Christian 
Movement   in   Japan    for    1913:    ''The    questions 
of  missions  have  come  to  be  not  only:  how  many 
individuals    have   been   won    for   Christ?   or  how 
is    any    particular    work    succeeding?    but^  also, 
how  far  is  a  whole  nation  being  influenced  in  the 
direction  of  Christ  and  a  new  life?  .  .  .  The  Chris- 
tianity that  is  to  prevail  in  Japan  is  to  be  an  edu- 
cational  Christianity.      Buddhism,   its   chief   rival. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       131 

is  rapidly  becoming  an  educational  Buddhism  in 
response  to  the  demands  of  an  educated  nation,  and 
it  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  Japan,  with  its  broad 
enlightenment  and  its  profound  respect  for  educa- 
tion, cannot  be  won  by  any  religion  that  is  not 
educational."  ^  Education  has  become  in  these  days 
the  chief  agency  of  social  progress.  It  is  in  its  con- 
ception of  a  common  intellectual  life  for  all  classes 
that  it  binds  and  helps  them  to  advance  together. 

3.  Medical  Work — Moslem  Approach.  If  now 
we  turn  to  medical  achievements  in  foreign  lands,  we 
enter  a  fascinating  field.  This  is  the  realm  where 
Christianity  and  applied  science  meet,  in  the  gra- 
cious ministry  of  healing.  Primitive  Christianity, 
like  modern  psychology,  made  no  separation  be-, 
tween  soul  and  body,  but  treated  the  human  per- 
sonality as  a  unit.  He  who  said :  "  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee,"  said  also,  "  Rise  and  walk."  Any 
permanent  separation  of  spiritual  help  from  physical 
help,  any  attempt  to  save  souls  while  ignoring  bod- 
ies, is  contrary  to  the  whole  recorded  ministry  of 
our  Lord.  Consequently  in  whatever  portion  of 
the  globe  missionaries  are  working  to-day  they  are 
attempting  to  minister  to  the  entire  life  of  man. 
The  ''  healing  of  the  seamless  dress,"  once  confined 
to  Palestine,  is  now  carried  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  one  expression  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  about 
six  hundred  hospitals  founded  and  operated  un- 
der Christian  auspices  on  the  missionary  field  to- 
day. In  Turkey  alone  there  are  thirty-five  such 
'  Pp.  84,  259. 


V 


132   i    Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

hospitals,  besides  one  hundred  and  forty-four  dis- 
pensaries. The  fanatical  bitterness  of  the  Moslem 
toward  Christianity  has  often  vanished  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Christian  physician,  and  beholding  the 
man  which  was  healed  he  could  say  nothing  against 
it.  The  women  of  the  harem,  for  centuries  inac- 
cessible to  any  Christian  message,  are  now  easily 
approached  by  the  woman  physician  and  the  trained 
nurse. 

Results  in  India.  In  India  there  are  to-day  over 
three  hundred  medical  missionaries,  and  as  many 
more  nurses  trained  in  Europe  or  America.  There 
are  in  that  vast  country  two  hundred  and  forty 
mission  hospitals  with  over  four  hundred  dispensa- 
ries. In  these  institutions  in  the  year  1910  nearly 
a  hundred  thousand  surgical  operations  were  per- 
formed and  about  three  million  patients  were 
treated.  Can  any  record  of  courage  and  persist- 
ence in  the  relief  of  human  pain  surpass  that?  In 
such  a  land,  where  there  is  seldom  a  sewer,  even 
in  the  largest  cities,  where  holiness  and  dirt  have 
been  for  centuries  associated,  where  the  people  drink 
holy  water  from  stagnant  tanks  covered  with  foul 
scum,  where  thousands  daily  bathe  and  wash  and 
drink  standing  waist-deep  in  the  Ganges,  while  dead 
bodies  float  past  in  the  stream — in  such  a  land  medi- 
cine is  a  boon  beyond  belief.  Not  only  the  cure 
of  individuals  has  engaged  the  missionaries,  but 
preventive  medicine  becomes  there,  as  here,  of  the 
first  importance.  Most  of  the  illness  in  tropica) 
lands  is  due  to  filthy  suroundings  and  unhygienic 


li^A<r''"rX!*'  Ti?i^rr'--.iSfe3aS"< 


f?llllitlllli^ 


MIRAJ    HOSPITAL,    MIRAJ,    INDIA 

One  year    1,500  in-patients,  30,000  dispensary  patients,  and   2,605 
operations 

OPERATIXG    ROOM.    FOOCHOW    HOSPITAL, 
FOOCHOW,    CHINA 

Just  after  the  battle  of  Foochow,  November,    191 1,  the  room  was  first 
used  for  a  major  operation 

GENERAL    HOSPITAL,    CHUNGKING,    WEST    CHINA 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       133 

habits.  Again  and  again  epidemics  of  smallpox  j/ 
have  been  halted  by  the  vaccine  of  the  missionary, 
and  recently  in  Siam  universal  vaccination  has  been 
made  compulsory.  Tuberculosis  has  been  studied 
and  its  ravages  limited.  Cholera  has  been  studied, 
and  elephantiasis,  and  all  the  monstrous  diseases 
that  flourish  under  a  vertical  sun.  Antiseptics  and 
disinfectants  are  constantly  brought  from  Europe 
to  India,  and  quarantine  has  often  been  established 
to  protect  whole  villages  from  the  plague.  Sani- 
tation has  been  taught  to  thousands  of  Christian 
congregations,  streets  have  been  cleaned,  house- 
yards  set  in  order,  channels  flushed  out,  and  health- 
ful living  been  made  a  part  of  the  Christian  creed. 

Opening  of  Doors.  The  appreciation  of  medical 
work  by  the  natives  has  been  a  striking  feature  of 
the  story.  An  experienced  missionary  gives  his 
judgment  that  ninety  out  of  every  hundred  who 
die  in  the  smaller  villages  of  India  (and  India  is 
a  nation  of  villages)  die  unattended  by  a  qualified, 
or  even  a  partially  qualified  physician.^  But  where 
the  qualified  physician  has  gone — and  the  medically 
untrained  missionary  must  beware  of  assuming  a 
physician's  role — a  deep  and  lasting  recognition  of 
his  work  has  followed.  "  The  rajas  and  native 
princes  of  India  have  on  many  occasions  welcomed 
medical  missions  to  their  states  by  substantial  of- 
fers  and  gifts  toward  the  work.  Examples  might 
be  quoted  where  land  has  been  granted  for  this 

^  W.  J.  Wanless,  International  Review  of  Missions,  April, 
I913,  p.  320. 


134       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

form  of  mission  work  when  it  was  denied  for  every 
other.  Mission  hospitals  and  dispensaries  which 
are  the  gifts  of  native  rulers  exist  in  several  native 
states.  Scores  of  Indian  princes  and  members  of 
their  households  are  among  the  patients  of  mis- 
sionary doctors;  an  opportunity  of  introducing 
Christianity  which  is  denied  to  every  other  class  of 
mission  workers  is  thus  offered  to  Christian  physi- 
cians." ^  This  access  of  the  medical  missionary  to 
individuals  and  homes  and  villages  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  developments  of  the  last  quarter  cen- 
tury. The  healing  of  the  body,  done  without  hope 
of  reward,  has  disarmed  suspicion,  quieted  oppo- 
sition, and  furnished  an  unanswerable  demonstra- 
.tion  of  the  sincerity  and  power  of  the  missionary. 

Malpractise  in  China.  In  China  the  need  of  the 
Christian  physician  springs,  not  so  much  from  the 
absence  of  native  doctors,  as  from  their  presence. 
Malpractise  based  on  pseudo-science  has  cursed 
China  for  many  centuries.  If  the  Chinese  are  a 
hardy  race  to-day,  it  is  partly  because  only  the 
hardiest  could  survive  their  doctors.  A  few  details 
are  furnished  by  a  member  of  the  faculty  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  Medical  School  in  Can- 
ton :  "  The  practise  of  medicine  in  China  is  un- 
licensed and  is  usually  hereditary.  .  .  .  There  are 
at  least  fifty-one  variations  in  the  pulse  which  may 
be  detected,  and  each  one  indicates  some  special 
condition  of  the  body.    For  simple  complaints  home 

*  W.  J.  Wanless,  International  Review  of  Missions,  April, 
1913,  p.  321. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       135 

remedies  and  the  formulas  of  old  women  are  re- 
sorted to,  and  only  when  grave  symptoms  develop 
is  the  doctor  consulted.  In  case  of  warfare  the 
Chinese  soldiers  attend  to  their  own  wounds.  .  .  . 
Often  a  prescription  is  given  because  of  the  resem- 
blance of  the  drug  to  the  organ  affected.  Thus 
for  renal  diseases  haricot  or  kidney  beans  are  given. 
.  .  .  The  bones  of  a  tiger  are  frequently  ground 
up  and  given  to  a  debilitated  person.  .  .  .  388 
points  suitable  for  acupuncture  are  described. 
Diseases  of  the  liver  and  the  eyes,  which  are  sym- 
pathetic organs,  are  cured  by  giving  pork's  liver. 
In  Kwangtung  Province  human  blood  is  considered 
an  excellent  remedy,  and  at  executions  people  may 
be  seen  collecting  the  blood  in  little  vials.  It  is 
then  cooked  and  eaten."  ^ 

Pioneers  and  Progress.  Into  the  midst  of  all  this 
malpractise  came  medical  missionaries  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century.  Dr.  Alexander 
Pearson  introduced  vaccination  as  early  as  1805, 
seven  years  after  Jenner's  great  discovery  was  made 
known  in  England.  Dr.  Peter  Parker,  whose 
''  lancet  "  has  been  more  famous  than  any  sword, 
founded  the  first  Chinese  hospital  in  1835.  Now 
there  are  medical  missionaries  in  probably  two  hun- 
dred Chinese  cities,  and  each  of  them  reaches  much 
of  the  country  round  about.  There  were  in  1910 
in  China  207  hospitals  and  292  dispensaries,  and 


^  William  W.  Cadbury,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  January,  1912,  p.  124. 


136       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

about  sixty  thousand  in-patients  and  over  a  million 
out-patients  were  treated.  Scattered  all  over  the 
ancient  empire  from  the  narrow  alleys  of  Canton  to 
the  magnificent  distances  of  Peking,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  majestic  Yangtze  to  the  western 
mountains  of  Szechwan,  are  these  institutions,  in 
which  science  and  religion  clasp  hands  in  human 
helpfulness,  and  Christianity  speaks  in  a  language 
none  can  fail  to  understand. 

One  Native  Physician.  The  writer  was  sailing 
one  day  up  the  great  Yangtze  River  when  the 
steamer  stopped  for  two  hours  at  an  ancient 
Chinese  city.  The  line  was  made  fast  to  the 
frail  little  wharf,  the  gang-plank  made  ready, 
and  soon  we  were  on  the  river  bank  and  greeted 
by  a  radiant  little  Chinese  woman,  who  gradu- 
ated seventeen  years  before  from  the  medical  school 
of  the  University  of  Michigan.  Through  the  wind- 
ing muddy  streets  we  passed,  through  sights  and 
odors  no  American  city  could  match,  to  the  higher 
ground  where  stood  the  Methodist  hospital  of  which 
that  little  woman  is  superintendent,  operating  sur- 
geon, and  financial  agent.  Graduating  from  the 
adjoining  mission  school  in  her  girlhood,  she  de- 
termined that  her  new-found  Christian  faith  should 
be  expressed  through  medicine.  Now  for  seventeen 
years  she  has  pursued  her  beneficent  mission,  by 
her  voice  and  bearing  radiating  health  and  happi- 
ness to  the  250  patients  that  we  saw  lying  in  the 
hospital.  The  month  before  we  arrived  she  had 
performed   over   seventy  surgical  operations   with 


WARREN    MEMORIAL    HOSPITAL,    HWANGHIEN,    CHINA 

ELIZABETH    SHELTON    DANFORTH    MEMORIAL    HOSPITAL, 
KIUKIANG,    CHINA 

"  Now  for  seventeen  years  she  has  pursued  her  beneficent  mission, 
.  .  .  bearing  radiating  health  and  happiness  to  the  250  patients 
that  we   saw   lying  in  the   hospital  " 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       137 

her  own  hands,  assisted  only  by  a  Chinese  nurse. 
Her  mother  is  her  best  assistant,  and  each  day  the 
mother  gives  Bible  readings  in  the  dispensary  to 
the  crowd  of  patients  awaiting  their  turn  with  the 
doctor.  No  temple  in  all  China,  no  Christian 
church,  is  more  significant  than  such  a  spot.^ 

A  World-wide  Ministry.  But  that  hospital  on 
the  bank  of  the  Yangtze  is  only  a  specimen  of  the 
world-wide  achievements  of  the  medical  missiona- 
ries. From  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  arctic  to  the 
antarctic  circle,  they  have  carried  the  visible  mes- 
sage of  Christian  healing.  No  wonder  Robert 
Mofifat  said :  "  A  medical  missionary  is  a  mission-  / 
ary  and  a  half,  or  rather  a  double  missionary."  In 
the  African  continent  that  he  loved  these  Chris- 
tian physicians  have  studied  the  sleeping  sickness 
and  done  much  to  alleviate  its  results.  They  have 
combated  malaria  and  typhoid  and  pneumonia.  In 
Korea,  since  the  day  when  Dr.  Allen  relieved  the 
wounded  prince  into  whose  torn  body  the  native 
physicians  were  stuffing  wax,  there  has  been  an 
ever-growing  demand  for  the  Christian  doctor.  In 
the  far-away  island  of  Java  the  native  members  of 

*  Yet  American  tourists  usually  spend  their  time  in 
crumbling  Confucian  temples,  or  before  hideous  idols,  or  in 
gaudy  theaters  and  tea-houses,  and  call  that  "  seeing  China  " ! 
No  one  sees  China,  or  any  other  Oriental  land,  unless  he  sees 
the  men  and  women  who  are  recreating  it,  reconstructing  its 
ideals,  and  permeating  its  thought-world  with  the  Christian 
message.  A  most  useful  little  volume,  recently  published,  is 
the  Tourist  Directory  of  Christian  Work  in  the  Chief  Cities 
of  the  Far  East,  India,  and  Egypt.  It  ought  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  every  traveler  through  the  Orient. 


138       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

the  Salvation  Army  have  by  a  self-denial  week 
raised  $20,000  to  erect  a  memorial  to  General  Wil- 
liam Booth.  And  the  memorial  will  not  be  a  statue 
or  tower  or  shaft.  It  will  be  an  eye-clinic,  at 
Semarang,  to  be  in  charge  of  a  Danish  physician 
who  last  year  performed  over  six  hundred  opera- 
tions on  the  eyes  of  the  gentle  natives  in  that  "  gar- 
den of  the  East." 

Intelligible  and  Permanent  Service.  These 
Christian  physicians,  reaching  the  soul  through  the 
body  and  the  body  through  the  soul,  ministering 
to  a  mind  diseased  or  a  body  crippled,  are  girdling 
the  globe  to-day  with  the  most  modern  and  most 
intelligible  of  all  versions  of  the  Christian  Bible. 
We  doff  our  hats  at  the  mention  of  some  of  their 
well-known  names,  but  the  unknown  soldiers  in 
such  a  fight  bear  the  brunt  of  the  attack. 

"Along  their  front  no  sabers   shine, 
No  blood-red  pennons  wave; 
Their  banner  bears  the  single  line — 
'  Our  duty  is  to  save.' " 

In  view  of  such  heroic  interpretations  of  Chris- 
tianity we  can  understand  the  declaration  of  the 
National  Conference  of  Missionaries  held  in  Shang- 
hai in  March,  1913:  ''Medical  Missions  are  to  be 
regarded  not  merely  as  a  temporary  expedient  for 
opening  the  way  for  and  extending  the  influence  of 
the  gospel,  but  as  an  integral,  coordinate,  and  per- 
manent part  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church."  This  is  not  only  a  work  of  individ- 
uals for  individuals ;  it  is  the  "  union  of  all  who  love 
in  the  service  of  all  who  suffer." 


SOCIAL  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF 

MISSIONARIES  {Continued) 


Servants  of  God!— or  sons 
Shall  I   not   call   you?    because 
Not   as   servants   ye   knew 
Your  Father's  most  innermost  mind. 
His,    who   unwillingly    sees 
One   of  his   little  ones   lost — 
Yours   is   the  praise,   if   mankind 
Hath    not    as    yet    in    its    march 
Fainted,    and    fallen,    and    died. 


Beacons  of  hope,  ye   appear! 
Languor   is   not  in  your   heart. 
Weakness   is   not   in   your  word, 
Weariness  not  on  your  brow. 


Eyes   rekindling,   and   prayers. 
Follow  your  steps  as  ye  go. 
Ye  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  files. 
Strengthen    the    wavering    line, 
Stablish,    continue    our    march, 
On,  on  to  the  bound  of  the   waste. 
On  to   the  City   of  God. 

— Matthew   Arnold. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOCIAL   ACHIEVEMENTS   OF   MISSIONA- 
RIES (Continued) 

Two  Remaining  Factors.  We  have  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  discussed  the  results  of  the  mission- 
ary enterprise  in  the  realms  of  literature,  of 
education,  and  of  medicine.  But  we  have  touched 
only  the  fringes  of  the  real  social  achievement.  We 
come  now  to  consider  the  relation  of  the  enter- 
prise to  industrial  training  and  to  various  social 
reforms. 

4.  Industrial  Missions.  According  to  the  narra- 
tive in  Genesis,  the  training  of  the  first  man  was 
achieved,  not  by  instruction,  but  by  toil.  He  was 
put  into  a  garden,  "  to  dress  and  to  keep  it."  Thus 
Eden  was — to  speak  in  the  phrases  of  our  own  day 
— the  earliest  industrial  or  agricultural  school.  One 
of  the  characteristics  of  modern  education  is  its 
insistence  on  vocational  or  industrial  training,  on 
*'  learning  by  doing."  Our  wisest  leaders  to-day  be- 
lieve not  only  in  the  three  R's,  but  in  the  three  H's — 
head,  hand,  and  heart.  The  Negro  race  in  America 
was,  for  the  first  decades  after  the  Civil  War, 
largely  misled  by  its  ambition  to  get  free  from 
manual  labor  and  acquire  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathe- 
matics.    The  road  to  the  solution  of  that  problem 

141 


142       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

was  pointed  out  by  General  S.  C.  Armstrong — born 
in  Hawaii,  the  gift  of  foreign  missions  to  America's 
need — when  he  founded  Hampton  Institute  in  1868. 
The  same  idea, — that  for  the  Negro  race,  as  for 
every  other,  education  and  religion  can  never  be 
divorced  from  labor, — was  again  emphasized  in  the 
development  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  in  Alabama, 
under  the  sensible,  far-seeing  guidance  of  Booker 
T.  Washington.  When  the  United  States  govern- 
ment involuntarily  acquired  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  thus  became  responsible  for  the  welfare  of 
8,000,000  people  of  various  backward  races,  it  had 
learned  wisdom  from  its  experience  at  home.  It 
at  once  introduced  a  system  of  public  schools  by 
which  every  one  of  the  600,000  children  in  the  Phil- 
ippine Islands  is  to-day  learning  some  useful  handi- 
craft. Trade  schools  have  been  established,  in  every 
school  manual  training  is  a  part  of  mental  disci- 
pline, and  industrial  competence  is  held  to  be  the 
most  valuable  contribution  of  the  schools  to  the 
life  of  the  Islands. 

Wide  Application  of  Method.  But  if  this  is  the 
true  method  of  uplift  in  America  and  the  Philip- 
pines, it  cannot  be  ignored  as  a  method  to  be  used 
by  Christian  missions  among  the  peasants  in  Tur- 
key, the  fellaheen  in  Egypt,  the  panchamas  (out- 
castes)  of  India,  the  savages  of  Africa,  or  the 
islanders  of  the  South  Pacific.  To  the  Japanese  we 
can  indeed  give  little  in  the  way  of  industrial  train- 
ing, but  on  the  contrary  they  can  teach  us  much. 
To  the  Chinese  we  can  give  mainly  improved  tools 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       143 

and  machinery.  In  patient  plodding  industry,  in 
economy  and  thrift,  in  pertinacity  and  endurance, 
the  Chinese  are  far  beyond  us.^  But  the  moment 
we  grapple  with  the  needs  of  the  tropics  we  are 
facing  a  universal  indisposition  to  labor.  Why 
should  the  swarthy  child  of  the  tropics  stoop  to  toil, 
when  nature  has  provided  for  all  his  material  neces- 
sities ?  He  can  go  out  and  climb  the  tree,  and  huge 
nuts  fill  his  arms.  He  can  gather  bread-fruit,  man- 
goes, oranges,  with  little  cultivation.  He  can  drop 
a  net  into  the  sea  and  it  is  soon  filled  with  fresh 
food.  He  finds  in  the  palm-tree  a  dozen  precious 
substances  ready  for  use,  and  in  the  bamboo  fibers 
he  finds  clothing,  baskets,  writing  materials,  fur- 
niture, fences,  house-walls,  roofs — bamboo  is  to  the 
tropics  what  iron  is  to  the  temperate  zone.  Hence 
the  missionary  has  before  him  the  problem  of  build- 

^  Yet  even  in  China  much  industrial  work  is  now  under- 
taken. At  Canton  Christian  College  the  agricultural  depart- 
ment includes  dairy  work,  school  gardening,  truck-gardening, 
landscape-gardening,  and  experimentation  with  bees  and  small 
live  stock.  The  President  of  the  University  of  Nanking,  the 
Rev.  Arthur  J.  Bowen,  writes :  ''  It  is  a  crime  in  this  land  so 
to  divorce  education  from  life  as  the  '  new  education  '  of  the 
past  five  or  six  years  has  done.  Government  elementary 
schools  have  given  little  more  than  head  training.  Mission 
schools  have  added  only  some  heart  and  soul  training.  What 
is  needed  is  also  body  training,  manual  training,  industrial 
training,  so  that  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  the  youth,  though  not 
taught  a  trade,  yet  will  have  those  fundamentals  that  lie  at 
the  basis  of  all  industries — able  within  a  reasonable  time  after 
leaving  school  to  become  capable  and  effective  in  whatever 
work  he  engages.  In  a  word,  our  own  mission  education 
should  be  shaped  more  by  the  actual  needs  and  conditions  of 
our  constituents  rather  than  by  ideals,  and  those  chiefly 
Western." — Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Report,  1912. 


144       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

ing  up  character  among  people  who  love  idleness, 
and  building  a  self-supporting  church  among  a  peo- 
ple who  have  never  learned  to  save  or  to  give. 
''Nearly  every  Javanese  boy,"  says  Dr.  D.  Koele- 
wyn  of  the  Dutch  mission  in  Java,  ''  after  having 
received  some  education,  despises  agriculture  and 
looks  out  for  a  position  as  teacher  or  as  clerk, 
or  some  other  office  excluding  manual  labor."  ^ 
''  This  city,"  cried  one  exasperated  missionary  in 
India,  **  is  full  of  learned  Christian  loafers ! " 

Essential  for  Best  Results.  In  India  industrial 
schools  are  now  well  under  way  and  achieving  most 
striking  results.  While  to  some  missionaries  they 
still  seem  secular  and  irrelevant,  to  the  majority 
they  are  a  genuine  interpretation  and  inculcation  of 
the  Christian  ideal.  The  old  purely  literary  training 
has  broken  down — it  too  often  severed  the  people 
from  their  own  kin,  gave  distaste  for  old  employ- 
ments, and  induced  a  restless  and  seditious  temper, 
a  kind  of  "  educational  measles."  Indian  unrest 
has  been  the  direct  product  of  Indian  education 
in  subjects  having  no  relation  to  Indian  life. 
Those  who  are  called  to  be  disciples  of  the  car- 
penter's Son  should  surely  learn  the  dignity  of  man- 
ual labor.  The  Rev.  W.  M.  Zumbro  of  the  Train- 
ing Institute  at  Pasumalai,  in  South  India,  writes : 
"  When  the  idea  of  work  was  first  introduced  into 
the  school  the  students  were  scandalized.  For  cen- 
turies it  had  been  the  tradition  in  India  that  the 

*  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol.  Ill,  Christian  Edu- 
cation, 395. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       145 

class  who  made  any  pretensions  to  literary  educa- 
tion did  no  work  with  their  hands ;  so  these  Chris- 
tian youths,  many  of  whose  ancestors  have  come 
from  the  coolie  class,  were  too  fine  gentlemen,  after 
passing  their  primary-school  examination,  to  think 
of  soiling  their  hands  with  work.  '  What,  you  want 
me  to  work?'  said  a  man  to  the  principal  of  the 
school  when  asking  for  charity.  '  Yes,'  said  the 
principal,  '  if  a  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall 
he  eat.'  '  I  cannot  work,'  said  the  man,  *  I  have 
passed  the  third-form  examination.'  .  .  .  The  de- 
cision to  open  a  manual  training  school  at  Pasuma- 
lai  in  1900  was  based  on  three  considerations:  the 
conviction  that  an  education  that  came  mainly  from 
the  study  of  books — a  literary  education — w'as  in- 
complete, and  that  the  times  demanded  something 
additional;  a  desire  to  teach  the  lesson  of  the  dig- 
nity of  labor  to  all  boys  in  the  school,  a  lesson  sorely 
needed  in  India;  a  desire  to  furnish  an  opportunity 
for  self-help  to  poor  boys."  ^ 

Helps  toward  Self-support.  In  the  last  phrase 
we  see  another  reason  for  industrial  education  in 
India — the  desire  to  help  poor  boys  and  girls  into 
self-respect  and  self-support.  Few  of  the  scholars 
in  mission  schools  can  pay  regular  fees.  But  to 
have  everything  done  for  them,  and  to  do  nothing 
themselves  save  to  absorb — that  is  the  poorest  pos- 
sible training  for  the  lethargic  Eastern  temperament. 
Moreover,  the  Christian  convert  is  frequently  sent 
adrift  by  his  family  and  his  village.  "  The  mere 
^International  Review  of  Missions,  January,  1913. 


146       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

fact  of  becoming  a  convert  will  usually  cause  a  man 
to  be  treated  as  an  outcaste  by  his  fellows  and 
neighbors.  Unless  a  convert  is  in  a  neighborhood, 
such  as  most  parts  of  Tinnevelli,  where  Christian- 
ity has  already  obtained  a  strong  footing,  he  may 
well  find  his  livelihood  gone.  The  blacksmith  or 
carpenter  finds  no  one  to  employ  him,  the  shepherd 
loses  the  employers  who  entrusted  him  with  the 
care  of  their  sheep  and  cattle,  and  is  lucky  if  he 
does  not  one  day  wake  up  to  find  his  own  few  sheep 
and  cattle  stolen  or  killed.  Perhaps  a  false  charge 
of  theft  may  be  brought  against  him,  as  happened 
to  a  poor  shepherd  convert  whom  I  had  the  privi- 
lege to  baptize."  ^ 

Resource  under  Persecution.  Dr.  J.  E.  Clough 
has  drawn  a  pathetic  picture  of  the  Telugu  natives 
who  had  accepted  Christianity:  "The  whole  co- 
operative system  of  the  village  was  turned  against 
them.  Forthwith  the  village  washer-women  were 
told  not  to  wash  for  the  Christians.  The  potter 
was  told  not  to  sell  pots  to  them.  Their  cattle  were 
driven  from  the  common  grazing  ground;  the 
Sudras  combined  in  a  refusal  to  give  them  the  usual 
work  of  sewing  sandals  and  harness;  at  harvest  time 
they  were  not  allowed  to  help,  and  thus  lost  the 
supply  of  grain  which  the  Sudras  had  always 
granted  them.  They  were  boycotted  and  ostracized 
on  every  hand.  Through  all  the  years  the  Telugu 
Bible  which  lay  on  my  oflfice  table  was  well  worn 

*  C  W.  Weston,  International  Review  of  Missions,  ApriU 
1913. 


s'^^— ^WP^  m^mm 


CENTRAL    TRAINING    SCHOOL,    OLD    UMTALI,    RHODESIA 

Carpenter  shop 
Finishing    100,000   brick 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       147 

on  several  pages,  and  three  places  especially  v^ere 
soiled  with  many  a  finger  mark.  One  was,  '  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor ' ;  another  was,  '  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions ';  the  third  was, 
*  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you  and  per- 
secute you  for  my  name's  sake.'  "  ^ 

Develops  Confidence  and  Strength.  In  some 
cases  the  convert's  previous  living  w^as  derived  from 
work  at  heathen  temples.  He  may  have  been  an 
idol  maker,  or  sorcerer,  or  a  musician  in  idolatrous 
ceremonies  or  processions — his  livelihood  has  van- 
ished at  a  blow.  In  other  cases  the  convert  is  pub- 
licly repudiated  by  his  family  and  driven  from 
home.  If  allowed  to  remain,  he  is  still  isolated; 
when  evening  comes  on  he  sits  by  the  fire  alone, 
while  his  friends  are  making  merry  at  some  idola- 
trous feast.  But  he  cannot  live  the  new  Christian 
life  in  a  vacuum;  he  must  have  wholesome,  steady 
employment;  and  to  secure  that  he  must  have  in- 
dustrial training.  A  church  composed  of  natives 
unemployed,  isolated,  poverty-stricken,  can  never 
be  vigorous  and  self-supporting.  But  if  they  can 
be  shown  new  forms  of  handicraft,  they  cease  to 
be  dependent  on  the  mission,  the  economic  prob- 
lem is  solved,  and  a  strong  church  may  result. 

Basel  Mission  Experiment.  But  the  most  notable 
experiment  that  India  has  yet  seen  in  industrial 
work  is  unquestionably  that  of  the  Basel  Mission 
on  the  west  coast.  For  over  sixty  years  the 
Lutheran  Church  has  maintained  there  a  kind  of 
^Autobiography  (in  press). 


148       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

work  often  admired,  often  criticized,  but  always 
profoundly  interesting.  As  early  as  1846  the  mis- 
sion had  an  industrial  school  along  the  usual  lines 
of  carpentry,  weaving,  lock-making.  But  difficul- 
ties were  encountered — as  so  often  happens  with  in- 
dustrial training  in  America.  The  product  of  the 
weavers  could  not  compete  with  cloths  imported 
from  Europe.  Other  kinds  of  occupation  were 
tried,  and  other  kinds  of  difficulty  developed.  A 
printing-press,  with  book-bindery  attached,  proved 
very  successful,  as  in  many  other  missions.  But 
a  radical  step  was  taken  when  a  master  weaver, 
Haller  (who  invented  the  fast-brown  dye  called 
khaki  which  has  made  khaki  cloth  famous  every- 
where), established  at  Mangalore,  not  a  school,  but 
a  small  factory,  with  twenty-one  European  looms 
and  a  dye-house.  From  that  beginning  the  work 
has  steadily  developed  until  to-day  there  are  three 
large  factories,  at  Mangalore,  Cannanore,  and 
Calicut,  and  four  branch  factories  not  far  away. 
Other  industries,  such  as  tailoring,  mat-making, 
knitting,  and  embroidery,  have  been  established,  un- 
til in  191 1  as  many  as  1,522  Christians  and  64  non- 
Christians  were  thus  given  employment  in  the 
factories. 

Expansion  and  Purpose.  The  Basel  Mission  has 
long  been  famous  for  its  tiles,  which  were  first 
made  there  in  1865.  Critics  of  the  work  affirmed 
that  the  Mission  was  more  interested  in  making  tiles 
than  in  making  converts ;  but,  undismayed,  the  lead- 
ers in  the  work  have  pressed  steadily  forward.    In 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       149 

1874  an  engineering  workshop  was  erected,  and 
blacksmithing  was  added  to  carpentry  and  lock- 
making.  A  business  man  was  sent  out  as  manager, 
and  he  opened  a  shop  for  the  sale  of  the  products. 
A  joint  stock  company  was  formed,  and  soon  was 
paying  a  small  dividend  which  was  turned  over  to 
the  support  of  the  missionaries.  Thousands  of 
Christians  are  now  in  the  employ  of  this  company, 
and  many  of  them  have  obtained  a  house  and  com- 
pound of  their  own.  The  aims  of  the  whole  work 
are  thus  stated  by  one  long  connected  with  it,  the 
Rev.  J.  Miiller :  ''  The  purpose  is  not  only  to  offer 
needy  converts  an  opportunity  of  earning  their  live- 
lihood, but  also  to  train  them  in  diligence,  honesty, 
and  steadiness  of  character.  These  institutions  are, 
therefore,  an  important  educational  factor  in  the 
Basel  Mission.  Most  of  these  work-people  are 
obliged  to  work  as  they  have  never  done  before, 
and  many  of  them  learn  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives  what  it  is  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  the 
work  of  their  own  hands.  This  is  no  small  achieve- 
ment in  a  land  where  the  dignity  of  labor  is  un- 
known, where  indolence  and  mendicancy  are  re- 
garded as  no  disgrace,  while  on  the  other  hand 
mechanical  and  manual  labor  are  considered  de- 
grading. .  .  .  The  moral  influence  of  the  work  on 
the  formation  of  character  is  sustained  and  deep- 
ened by  daily  religious  instruction.  Before  begin- 
ning the  day's  work,  morning  prayers  are  regularly 
read  by  the  manager  or  native  pastor.  Not  only 
does  the  whole  work  thus  receive  a  certain  conse- 


150       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

cration,  but  the  employees  see  that  their  employer 
is  interested  in  their  spiritual  welfare."  ^ 

Definite  Results.  The  idea  of  forming  in  the 
homeland  a  business  corporation  to  conduct  a 
manufacturing  enterprise  on  the  foreign  field  has 
proved  contagious.  The  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety has  organized  "  Papuan  Industries,  Limited," 
to  furnish  employment  and  training  to  native  Chris- 
tians in  Papua,  or  New  Guinea.  The  "  Scottish 
Mission  Industries  Company,"  conducting  similar 
lines  of  business  at  Ajmere,  in  Rajputana,  recently 
reported  through  its  superintendent,  Mr.  James  In- 
glis,  thus :  ''  This  is  the  ninth  year  since  the  Limited 
(Printing)  Co.  was  formed.  There  is  no  dividend 
yet,  but  we  are  making  a  present  to  the  mission  of 
two  missionary  salaries,  each  about  Rs.  200  per 
month.  I  could  take  you  to  another  large  press 
in  Rajputana,  manned  with  our  boys.  Before  the 
company  was  formed  the  press  was  a  drag  on  the 
mission.  Boys  used  to  be  ostracized  because  they 
were  Christians ;  now  they  are  accepted  because  of 
efficiency.  Boys  earn  their  support  from  the 
beginning." 

Manifest  Problems.  Of  course  this  type  of  mis- 
sionary work,  like  every  new  method,  has  its  special 
problems.  It  may  prove  difficult  to  sell  the  product 
of  the  native  Christians.  It  is  easy  for  the  Chris- 
tian employees  to  become  permanent  dependents  of 
the  mission,  looking  to  it  throughout  their  lives, 
not  only  for  instruction  and  inspiration,  but  for 
*  International  Review  of  Missions,  January,  1913. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       151 

food  and  clothing  and  shelter.  A  business  enter- 
prise is  subject  to  all  the  fluctuations  of  the  market, 
both  in  buying  raw  materials  and  in  disposing  of 
the  finished  product.  And  there  is  the  ever-present 
danger  that  the  missionary  who  has  gone  out  to 
kindle  a  spiritual  fire  may  be  reduced  to  the  position 
of  foreman  of  a  machine-shop  or  traveling  sales- 
man. Many  a  Christian  business  enterprise  has 
been  lightly  started  on  a  foreign  field — as  too  many 
in  America — only  to  find  that  lack  of  skilled  super- 
vision, or  lack  of  capital,  has  brought  it  to  early 
demise. 

Industrial  School  versus  Real  Factory.  It  is 
necessary  in  every  mission  to  distinguish  sharply 
between  an  industrial  school,  which  aims  not  at 
making  tiles,  or  cotton  cloth,  but  at  making  boys 
and  girls  into  men  and  women,  and  a  real  factory 
or  business,  whose  service  is  constantly  tested  by 
the  market  value  of  its  output.  Both  may  be  con- 
ducted for  Christian  ends,  but  a  school  with  a 
regular  deficit  may  be  a  great  success,  while  a  Chris- 
tian factory  with  a  recurring  deficit  must  soon  close 
its  doors.  The  school  wastes  many  logs  in  the  car- 
penter's shop,  and  much  clay  in  brick-making,  with- 
out regret,  since  it  asks  no  visible  return.  The  fac- 
tory aims  at  ''philanthropy  and  five  per  cent."  To 
confuse  the  two  forms  of  effort  on  the  foreign  field 
is  as  tragic  as  to  confuse  a  high  school  with  a 
cotton-mill  in  Massachusetts.^ 

*  A  Scotch  inspector  of  schools  put  the  matter  very  bluntly 
by  saying :  "  When  a  lad  is  learnin*  he's  not  airnin',  and  when 


J 


152       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Booth-Tucker's  Testimony.  But  none  of  these 
problems  deter  our  most  far-seeing  missionaries, 
who  are  now  securing  teachers  trained  in  industrial 
methods  at  home,  and  are  persistently  uniting  work 
with  worship  {laborer  e  est  or  are)  in  the  foreign 
field.  Commissioner  F.  Booth-Tucker,  of  the  Sal- 
vation Army  in  India,  declares :  '*  Millions  in  India 
are  waiting  for  missionaries  to  show  them  how  they 
can  become  Christians  without  being  subject  to  a 
social  boycott  which  will  spell  to  themselves  and 
their  families  absolute  starvation.  .  .  .  They  are 
paid,  not  in  cash,  but  mostly  in  kind,  in  return  for 
their  labor  and  the  goods  they  produce.  The  pivot 
of  the  community  is  the  money-lender,  v/hose  all- 
powerful  influence  makes  itself  everywhere  felt. 
Every  one  who  has  a  fragment  of  credit  is  indebted 
to  him.  The  net  which  holds  each  member  of  that 
community  in  its  meshes  is  as  skilfully  woven  and 
tightly  drawn  as  a  spider's  web.  The  wonder  is 
that  any  are  able  to  break  loose."  ^ 

Spread  of  Such  Effort.  Interest  in  this  type  of 
effort  is  now  rapidly  spreading  through  India.  Out 
of  136  missionary  societies  working  to-day  in  India, 
Burma,  and  Ceylon,  forty-seven,  including  nearly 
all  the  stronger  ones,  are  now  offering  some  kind 
of  industrial  training.    In  order  to  place  the  experi- 

he's  airnin'  he's  not  learnin'."  Such  a  statement  in  the  deepest 
sense  is  not  true.  The  earning  of  a  livehhood  may  be  madean 
educative  process.  But  it  is  true  that  we  should  know  which 
of  the  two  things  is  our  primary  aim — education  or  output, 
a  life  or  a  living. 

^  Year  Book  of  Missions  in  India,  1912,  p.  317. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       153 

ence  of  each  at  the  service  of  all,  three  missiona- 
ries— Messrs.  Bawden,  Rutherford,  and  Hollister — 
spent  five  months  in  the  year  19 10  in  a  tour  among 
the  industrial  mission  schools  of  central  and  north- 
ern India.  Twenty  institutions  w^ere  visited,  and 
nine  conferences  held  on  the  subject,  the  keenest 
interest  being  everywhere  shown.^  After  listening 
to  the  report,  the  industrial  committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Telugu  Mission  voted  that  "  it  seems  to 
be  a  growing  opinion  that  too  much  literary  and  not 
enough  practical  training  is  the  rule  in  mission 
schools,"  and  that  ''  every  pupil  of  every  mission 
school  should  earn  all,  or  at  least  a  part,  of  his 
school  and  boarding  fees  by  remunerative  labor  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  manager  of  the  school."  ^ 
At  the  Conference  on  Industrial  Education,  held  at 
Bangalore  in  19 10,  the  missionaries  of  many  de- 
nominations expressed  their  conviction  in  the  fol- 
lowing statement :  '*  The  Conference  is  deeply  con- 
vinced that  this  branch  of  education  is  absolutely 
necessary,  if  our  Christian  churches  are  to  become 
self-supporting,  and  the  Christian  community  is  to 
be  elevated  to  take  its  rightful  place  in  India."  ^ 

Connection  with  Agriculture.  But  in  a  land 
where  85  per  cent,  of  the  people  are  tillers  of 
the  soil  the  workshop  cannot  be  separated  from 
agriculture.    In  a  land  sw^pt  by  periodic  famine,  as 

^  See  small  pamphlet,  S.  D.  Bawden,  "  Mission  Industrial 
Work  in  India." 

^  Report  of  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society, 
January,  1912. 

^  S.  D.  Bawden,  "  Mission  Industrial  Work  in  India." 


154       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

India  is,  better  irrigation  and  better  seed,  doubling 
in  many  cases  the  amount  of  the  harvest,  may  be 
worth  more  than  all  hospitals,  or  medicine,  or  fam- 
ine relief  funds.  At  the  conference  just  mentioned 
an  exceedingly  thoughtful  paper  was  presented  by 
Mr.  W.  H.  Hollister  of  Kolar,  giving  the  results  of 
long  experience.  Among  other  things  he  said :  *'  I 
believe  it  is  possible  to  broadcast  a  new  type  of  vil- 
lage schools  all  over  India,  each  school  having  farm 
and  garden  plots  where  boys  and  girls  will  be  taught 
the  best  methods  of  agriculture,  horticulture,  and 
stock-raising,  and  with  unpretentious  workshops  in 
which  to  teach  handicrafts  suited  to  rural  lives. 

Well-made  Implements.  ''  While  we  make  high- 
grade  furniture  a  specialty,  any  statement  concern- 
ing the  work  of  the  school  would  be  incomplete 
did  it  omit  mention  of  our  agricultural  implements. 
Our  central  aim  is  to  teach  students,  and  while 
teaching  them,  help  India  as  a  whole.  We  make 
plows  so  thoroughly  good  and  practical  that  when 
a  man  buys  one,  and  uses  it  rightly,  he  comes  again, 
and  his  neighbors  come  to  buy.  One  of  my  cus- 
tomers, who  bought  and  tried  one  thoroughly,  came 
back  and  bought  thirteen.  I  have  just  received  a 
letter  from  a  customer  of  five  years'  standing,  or- 
dering twenty-four.  If  I  had  time  and  capital  to 
put  into  this  phase  of  my  work,  I  could  soon  sell 
one  thousand  plows  and  cultivators  annually. 

Advanced  Aim.  ''  I  alluded  above  to  the  need 
of  labor-saving  machines.  I  have  for  years  looked 
forward  to  making  thrashing-machines  and  grain 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       155 

winnowers.  Both  of  these  I  will  have  for  sale 
in  a  few  weeks.  Drills  for  sowing  grain  must  come 
next.  We  absolutely  must  get  away  from  agricul- 
tural methods  dating  back  to  the  days  of  Abraham. 
The  times  demand  it.  Few  things  will  better  stimu- 
late the  dormant  faculties,  the  intellectual  life  of 
the  masses."  ^ 

Use  of  the  Silo.  In  pursuance  of  this  ideal 
the  Ewing  Christian  College,  at  Allahabad,  has 
recently  bought  two  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Jumna  River  from  the  present 
college  site,  and  its  plans  call  for  the  expenditure 
of  ten  thousand  pounds  to  develop  an  agricultural 
experiment — or  rather  an  agricultural  demonstra- 
tion of  what  can  be  done  to  raise  the  economic  level 
of  a  Christian  community.  Some  American  Chris- 
tians would  open  their  eyes  in  amazement — and  per- 
haps in  doubt — if  they  could  read  "  Bulletin  No.  I," 
issued  by  this  missionary  college  in  1913,  entitled: 
''  The  Silo  and  Silage :  A  Method  of  Protecting  In- 
dia's Cattle  from  Starvation."  Our  theological 
seminaries  hardly  equip  a  missionary  for  building 
and  managing  a  silo.  Many  critics  may  repeat  the 
ancient  question :  "  Is  it  for  the  oxen  that  God 
careth?  "  To  which  the  answer  is  that  if  the  oxen 
perish  the  farmers  perish  also.  There  really  seems 
no  difference  in  principle  between  the  use  of  a  silo 
filled  with  fodder  and  the  use  of  a  basket  containing 
"  five  loaves  and  two  small  fishes." 

*  S.  D.  Bawden,  "  Mission  Industrial  Work  in  India." 


156       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

A  New  Standard  of  Education.  But  agricultural 
education  means  vastly  more  than  the  saving  of 
physical  life,  animal  or  human.  Says  a  graduate 
of  Mount  Hermon  School  and  Princeton  University, 
now  in  charge  of  the  Agricultural  Department  at 
Allahabad:  "As  an  evangelistic  agency  (and  this 
is  the  great  motive  of  the  missionary,  no  matter 
what  form  his  activity  may  take),  it  is  easily  pos- 
sible that  agricultural  education  may  yield  results 
as  good  as  the  usual  literary  training  given  in  mis- 
sion institutions.  If  missions  are  justified  at  all 
in  entering  the  educational  field,  that  education 
which  reaches  the  largest  number  is  worth  while, 
and  ought  to  be  undertaken.  Agricultural  educa- 
tion would  reach  out  to  the  villages  where  the  peo- 
ple of  India  live.  Every  Christian  on  his  little 
farm,  with  improved  methods  and  improved  stock, 
getting  returns  three  or  four  times  as  great  as  the 
untrained  farmer,  would  attract  the  attention  of 
non-Christian  neighbors.  The  simple  folk  of  India 
are  appealed  to  by  the  Old  Testament  standards, 
and  success  in  farming  would  be  associated  with 
the  religion  of  the  one  getting  these  good  results."  ^ 

Forms  of  Industrial  Work.  As  to  forms  of  in- 
dustrial work  to  be  undertaken,  perhaps  the  best 
possible  summary  is  that  of  Mr.  Bawden :  "  That  is 
the  ideal  form  of  industrial  work  which  comes  the 
nearest  to  teaching  the  people  how  to  help  them- 
selves— 

'  Sam  Higginbottom,  International  Review  of  Missions, 
April,  1913. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       157 

(i)   On  their  own  land,  if  they  have  any; 

(2)  In  their  own  trade,  if  they  know  any; 

(3)  With  their  own  tools,  so  far  as  suitable; 

(4)  With  their  own  labor,  wisely  directed; 

(5)'  At  their  own  expense,  rather  than  the  mis- 
sion's ; 

(6)  Through  improvement  of  their  own  meth- 
ods, in  preference  to  the  introduction  of  new  ones; 

(7)  In  their  own  home  villages,  as  being  the  best 
centers  for  their  influence,  and 

(8)  Under  instruction  from  their  own  people,  so 
far  as  capable."  ^ 

The  African  Field.  But  it  is  in  Africa  that  we 
have  the  chief  field  for  teaching  the  sanctity  and 
beauty  of  w^ork.  In  Africa  there  is  the  same  love 
of  indolence  as  in  India,  the  same  vertical  sun,  but 
no  long  literary  tradition;  consequently,  from  the 
very  beginning  education  has  included  manual  la- 
bor. Lord  Kitchener,  the  consul-general  of  Egypt, 
is  a  true  friend  of  the  schools,  but  he  has  often 
said  to  the  minister  of  education:  ''See  that  you 
do  nothing  to  make  the  hands  of  the  Egyptians 
soft."     Outside  of  Egypt,  in  dealing  with  savage 

^  In  a  private  letter  he  says :  "  I  was  called  upon  by  five 
native  states  in  one  of  the  great  opium-growing  districts  of 
India  to  advise  the  rulers  as  to  what  could  be  done  to  provide 
a  substitute  for  opium.  All  of  the  rajas  received  me  with 
the  greatest  hospitality.  .  .  .  Landowners  and  government 
officials  are  writing  all  the  time  for  advice.  ...  A  native 
preacher  was  not  allowed  to  enter  certain  Brahman  villages. 
When,  however,  they  found  he  had  several  little  bottles  with 
improved  wheat  in  them,  and  could  tell  the  villagers  how  to 
get  better  results  for  no  more  labor,  they  made  their  welcome 
most  hearty." 


158       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

African  tribes,  the  white  men  have  found  that  the 
natives  under  proper  direction  quickly  develop  much 
skill  in  handicraft.  An  enormous  field  lies  open 
where  a  new  civilization  is  to  be  built  from  the  bot- 
tom upward.  The  little  plows  that  barely  scratch 
the  soil  must  give  way  to  subsoil  plowing.  The 
poor  seed  that  results  in  spindling,  meager  crops 
must  be  replaced  by  better.  Roads  must  be  built 
where  now  only  little  winding  paths,  eighteen 
inches  wide,  cross  the  continent.  Foul  huts,  where 
parents,  children,  and  grandchildren  sleep  huddled 
in  one  room,  must  give  way  to  clean  and  decent 
cottages.  Nakedness  must  be  clothed,  the  sick  must 
be  healed,  pestilence  must  be  controlled,  and  fam- 
ine banished. 

Already  Yielding  Fruit.  To  give  to  young  peo- 
ple amid  such  conditions  the  same  education  as  is 
given  at  Harrow,  or  Rugby,  or  Exeter,  or  Andover, 
would  be  a  piece  of  blindness  and  folly.  Rather 
does  Africa  (far  larger  than  all  Europe,  India, 
China,  and  Australia  put  together)  need  a  score 
of  Hamptons,  a  hundred  Tuskegees.  It  needs,  and 
is  receiving  at  the  hands  of  missionaries,  that  edu- 
cation which  was  given  by  the  early  Jesuit  missiona- 
ries to  the  Indians  of  California,  that  which  was 
given  in  the  middle  ages  to  many  of  the  wild  tribes 
of  Germany  by  monks  who  carried  the  motto, 
Crtice  et  aratro — *'  by  the  power  of  the  cross  and 
the  plow."  Already  has  famine  been  banished  from 
among  the  Kaffirs  by  the  missionaries'  teaching  as 
to  irrigation  and  the  control  of  water-supply.     The 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       159 

Basel  Mission  on  the  Gold  Coast  now  numbers 
35,000  communicants.  Wagons  and  carts  made  in 
its  workshops  are  now  seen  in  all  parts  of  Sierra 
Leone  and  the  Kameruns.  In  its  last  annual  re- 
port we  find  that  its  export  of  rubber  amounted  to 
thirty-five  tons;  of  palm-oil,  2,700,000  quarts;  of 
cocoa,  17,000,000  pounds;  while  in  its  savings-bank 
were  deposited  by  native  Christians  575,000 
francs. 

Favored  in  Personnel.  Africa  has  been  peculiarly 
fortunate  in  attracting  to  its  mission  fields  men 
many-sided,  ingenious,  fond  of  outdoor  life,  and 
able  to  organize  unskilled  labor  for  useful  ends. 
Here  among  savage  tribes  is  no  elaborate  system 
of  etiquette  requiring  conformity,  as  in  China,  no 
merely  bookish  education,  no  sophisticated  minds  to 
be  met  in  subtle  disputation,  as  in  Turkey.  We  are 
face  to  face  with  the  wants  of  primitive  man.  One 
of  the  first  tasks  of  Mackay  of  Uganda,  who  went 
out  to  Africa  in  1876,  was  the  building  of  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  miles  of  road  to  open  up  a  new 
territory.  Fortunate  indeed  was  it  for  him  that  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh  he  had  studied  mathe- 
matics, surveying,  mechanics,  drafting,  and  the 
principles  of  fortification.  He  could  build  a  house, 
or  a  boat,  or  a  bridge,  or  a  canal  with  equal  fa- 
cility, and  all  who  felt  the  touch  of  his  remarkable 
life,  from  the  cruel  and  infamous  King  Mtesa  to  the 
humblest  slave,  felt  a  new  motive  and  joy  in  work- 
ing with  hand  and  brain  at  once.  Such  results  fol- 
lowed that  Henry  M.  Stanley  spoke  of  the  story 


i6o       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

as  "  an  epic  poem,"  and  called  Uganda  the  "  Japan 
of  Africa."  ^  *'  It  is  the  practical  Christian  tutor," 
said  Stanley,  ''  who  can  teach  people  to  become 
Christians,  can  cure  their  diseases,  construct  dwell- 
ings, understand  and  exemplify  agriculture,  turn 
his  hand  to  anything,  like  a  sailor,  that  is  wanted. 
Such  a  one,  if  he  can  be  found,  would  be  a  savior 
of  Africa."  How  Africa  found  such  a  man  in 
Stewart  of  Lovedale  we  shall  see  in  another 
chapter. 

Principle  of  Self-Expression.  One  result  of  the 
amazing  development  of  the  work  in  Uganda — com- 
pressing into  twenty  years  what  in  most  countries 
requires  two  hundred — was  the  formation  by  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  in  1903,  of  one  of  those 
manufacturing  and  trading  companies  of  which  we 
have  already  spoken — the  ''  Uganda  Company, 
Limited,"  with  a  capital  of  $75,000.  It  at  once 
began  printing,  binding,  brick-making,  carpentry, 
and  planned  to  carry  on  a  business  in  cotton,  flax, 
hemp,  jute,  and  rubber.  But  where  no  such  com- 
pany has  been  formed,  the  industrial  missions  are 
still  thriving.  A  glance  at  the  reports  from  many 
African  stations  will  show  allusions  to  farm- 
ing, brick-laying,  wood-sawing,  planing,  furniture- 
making,  rope-making,  road-building,  stone-cutting, 
coffee-planting,  dressmaking,  laundry-work,  cook- 
ing, basketry,  and  a  score  of  other  practical  arts. 
Everywhere  the  education  tends  to  illustrate  the 
saying  now  so  frequently  heard  in  American 
'  Quoted  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  October,  1897. 


SILLIMAX    IXSTITUTi:.    DA-AIAGUETE,   PHILIPPINE   ISLANDS 

Students    at    work    in    garden    and    laboratory 

Enrolls    662    preparatory   and    college    students    from    25    provinces 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       i6i 

schools :  "  No  impression  without  expression." 
That  expression  of  the  self  through  labor  is  the  only 
way  to  acquire  a  larger  self,  is  now  axiomatic.  The 
training  which  the  African  race  received  in  America 
through  slavery  it  is  destined  to  receive  in  the  dark 
continent  through  the  industrial  education  fur- 
nished by  the  ever-growing  missionary  enterprise. 

Extension  to  the  Philippines.  And  what  has 
proved  so  indispensable  in  Africa  is  equally  so 
in  dealing  with  all  backward  races — among  the 
Indians  of  South  America,  the  natives  of  the 
Malay  States,  the  peoples  of  Polynesia,  the  wild 
tribes  in  the  Philippines.  Many  of  these  peo- 
ples may  not  be  able  to  appreciate  Christianity  in 
doctrinal  form,  but  they  can  all  appreciate  Chris- 
tianity in  action.  Bishop  Brent  is  confident  that 
the  bloodthirsty  Moros — 350,000  Mohammedans 
living  under  the  American  flag — possess  the  raw 
material  of  a  superb  manhood,  and  can  best  be 
reached  by  the  industrial  appeal.  He  writes :  ''  The 
Moro  is  by  nature  aggressive.  His  prowess,  daring, 
mental  shrewdness,  and  manual  skill  put  him  far 
ahead  of  most  men  of  Malay  origin.  He  has  char- 
acteristics which  when  properly  trained  will  be  an 
asset  to  civilization.  He  is  a  man  of  action  rather 
than  an  idler.  The  only  way  to  convert  him  is  to 
convert  his  energies,  to  teach  him  the  joy  of  pro- 
ductivity, and  so  to  inspire  him  with  self-respect. 
This  we  plan  to  do  by  teaching  him  to  build  roads, 
railways,  bridges,  houses,  to  market  his  crops  and 
improve  his  land,  to  lead  in  our  modern  sport  in- 


l62       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

stead  of  his  ancient  piracy,  to  develop  himself  and 
his  resources  in  normal,  ideal,  beneficial  ways. 

Line  of  Moro  Approach.  "  Here  is  a  man's  mis- 
sion— religion  expressed  in  work.  It  would  be 
futile  at  this  juncture,  except  in  unusual  circum- 
stances, to  preach  to  the  Moro.  The  history  of  his 
race  has  been  such  as  to  close  his  mind  to  Christian 
appeal.  We  must  live  our  Christianity  with  him. 
The  hospital,  the  school,  the  playground,  must  be 
our  pulpit."  Industrial  training  seeks  not  only  to 
help  individuals  to  help  themselves,  but  to  lay  the 
basis  for  a  better  social  order. 

5.  Reform  Factor.  We  must  now  turn  to  social 
reform  and  consider,  first,  the  negative  and  de- 
structive achievements  of  the  missionary  enterprise. 
The  work  is  not  all  constructive  and  edifying. 
Sometimes  we  must  tear  down  and  uproot  and  blast 
out  before  we  can  plant  the  new  crops.  Through- 
out the  non-Christian  world  we  have  found  cruel- 
ties and  superstitions  and  degradations  with  which 
we  can  hold  no  parley.  The  Apostle  Paul  described 
some  of  them  in  the  burning  phrases  of  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  then 
cried :  '*  They  who  practise  such  things  are  worthy 
of  death ! "  True,  we  have  terrible  moral  evils 
flourishing  in  Christian  lands.  But  there  is  this 
difference — they  are  not  consecrated  and  protected 
by  our  religion.  Drunkenness,  licentiousness,  cru- 
elty exist  as  truly  in  London  and  Chicago  as  in  Cal- 
cutta. But  in  London  and  Chicago  they  exist  in 
spite  of  religion,  while  in  Calcutta  they  are  en- 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       163 

couraged  and  protected  by  religion.  The  spectator 
who  does  not  become  white-hot  with  anger  at  bes- 
tiality wearing  the  uniform  of  religion  is  no 
Christian,  nor  even  decent  man. 

Protecting  Indian  Womanhood.  The  British 
government  in  India  has  scrupulously  refrained 
from  interference  with  native  religious  faiths,  but 
it  was  long  ago  aroused  by  missionary  appeals  to 
prohibit  religious  cruelty.  Under  the  influence  of  / 
those  appeals  it  abolished  suttee — the  burning  of 
the  widow  on  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  husband. 
Such  immolation  was  willingly  undergone  by  the 
widow,  since  by  it  she  was  supposed  to  win  ex- 
emption from  many  transmigrations  of  soul  both 
for  her  husband  and  herself.  In  spite  of  the  law 
a  single  case  of  suttee  was  reported  by  the  police 
as  late  as  19 13.  But  in  general  the  Indian  mind 
has  undergone  a  change  in  this  matter,  and  now  ap- 
proves the  attitude  of  the  government.  In  1856  the 
government  made  legal  the  remarriage  of  widows. 
But  since  it  could  not,  of  course,  compel  remar- 
riage, the  Indian  mind  remained  unchanged,  andV 
there  are  to-day  25,000,000  widows  in  India 
who,  with  shaved  heads  and  in  coarse  garments, 
must  do  penance  for  imaginary  sins,  by  serving  as 
social  drudges  for  their  relatives  while  their  un- 
happy lives  shall  last.  In  view  of  the  fact  that 
multitudes  of  girls  were  married  at  the  age  of 
seven  or  eight,  another  law,  strongly  urged  by  mis- 
sionaries, was  passed  in  1891,  forbidding  any  child- 
wife  to  go  to  her  husband's  house  to  live  before  she 


164       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

was  twelve  years  old.  This  law  aroused  a  tempest 
of  opposition,  voiced  in  mass-meetings  and  bitter 
attacks  on  the  government. 

Missionary  Protest  against  Uncleanness.  When 
the  government  proceeded  to  take  notice  of  the 
licentious  shows  and  sports,  and  a  law  was  passed 
prohibiting  obscene  paintings  and  images,  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  make  one  remarkable  exemp- 
tion :  "  This  section  does  not  extend  to  any  repre- 
sentation ...  in  any  temple,  or  on  any  car  used 
for  the  conveyance  of  idols,  or  used  for  any  reli- 
gious purpose."  The  most  casual  traveler  in  India 
to-day  is  constantly  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
sacred  abominations  of  popular  Hinduism — most 
numerous  and  most  loathsome  in  the  holiest  places. 
The  Vedas  have  much  lofty  teaching,  but  the  masses 
of  the  people  seldom  hear  it.  They  hear  and  see  the 
hallowing  of  lust  and  dirt  and  heartless  cruelty  by 
popular  religion.  The  chief  awakener  of  the  public 
conscience  to  such  hideous  practises  has  been  the 
steady  consistent  protest  of  the  united  missionary 
force.  '*  Every  evil  which  has  been  removed  from 
Hinduism  in  modern  times  has  been  by  compulsion 
from  without,  and  in  defiance  of  a  persistent  senti- 
ment and  the  determination  of  its  orthodox  fol- 
lowers." ^  It  may  not  be  too  much  to  affirm  that 
popular  Hinduism  is  the  only  religion  on  earth  that 
has  deliberately  said :  "  Evil  be  thou  my  good." 

Efforts  against  Moral  Evils  of  China.  In  China 
the  protest  of  Christianity  has  been  steadily  against 
^  Year  Book  of  Missions  in  India,  1912,  p.  26. 


V 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       165 

infanticide,  foot-binding,  gambling,  and  the  use  of 
opium.  Just  outside  the  great  city  of  Hangchow 
the  writer  has  seen  a  square  stone  tower,  known 
to  every  passer-by  as  a  ''babies'  tower."  In  it  are 
stone  shelves  on  which  for  many  decades  undesired 
babies,  usually  girls,  have  been  left  by  their  parents. 
Similar  conveniences,  usually  less  public,  are  to 
be  found  in  many  parts  of  China.  Amid  the  tre- 
mendous pressure  of  population  human  life  seems 
to  lose  its  sanctity,  and  the  abandonment  of  a  child 
has  been  little  more  than  the  brushing  away  of  an 
insect.  Until  recently  the  only  voice  upraised  in 
rebuke  of  such  unnatural  practise  has  been  the  voice 
of  the  Christian  teacher  or  preacher. 

Foot-binding  Reform.  The  opposition  of  the 
missionaries  to  the  foot-binding  of  women  has  been 
constant,  and  in  recent  years  has  stirred  up  the 
Chinese  themselves  to  serious  reform.  When  Dr. 
MacGowan,  of  Amoy,  first  called  a  meeting  of 
Chinese  women,  as  long  ago  as  1874,  to  protest 
against  the  practise,  there  were  many  predictions 
of  fierce  protest  and  open  riot.  He  was  attacking 
the  foundation  of  the  social  order — an  order  which 
had  decreed  that  respectable  women  should  be 
physically  unable  to  go  about  the  streets,  that  their 
feet  should  be  ''  golden  lilies  "  rather  than  instru- 
ments of  progress.  But  he  induced  nine  brave 
women  to  sign  their  names  in  a  book,  pledging 
themselves  not  to  bind  the  feet  of  their  own  daugh- 
ters, and  thus  organizing  "  The  Heavenly  Foot 
Society."    Then  one  of  the  bravest  "  gave  her  feet 


i66       Social  xA^spects  of  Foreign  Missions 

to  the  Lord  "  and  stripped  off  the  bandages  which 
had  caused  her  so  many  years  of  pain.  In  1902 
the  Empress  Dowager  issued  her  decree  discourag- 
ing foot-binding — never  practised  by  the  Manchus 
— and  now  the  "  Natural  Foot  Society  "  is  extend- 
ing the  reform  slowly  throughout  the  republic. 
Formerly  the  suitor  for  a  bride  was  accustomed  to 
ask,  ''  What  is  the  length  of  her  foot?"  and  if  it 
was  over  three  or  four  inches  she  was  deemed  in- 
eligible. Now  the  suitor  often  asks,  "  Where  has 
she  been  to  school?"  The  freeing  of  the  feet 
has  meant  freedom  for  the  mind  as  well. 

War  on  Narcotics  and  Gambling.  The  long  story 
of  opium — a  story  of  avarice  and  war  and  dishonor 
— need  not  be  retold  here.  After  a  half  century 
of  evasion  and  subterfuge  the  British  government 
has  acknowledged  its  responsibility,  and  a  commit- 
tee of  the  House  of  Commons  has  pronounced  the 
traffic  indefensible.  But  no  missionary  in  China  has 
ever  given  public  approval  to  the  great  Chinese  vice, 
or  to  Britain's  long  refusal  to  aid  in  Chinese  re- 
form. To-day  the  British  government  stands  be- 
hind the  British  missionary  in  condemnation  of  the 
opium  traffic.  But  will  alcohol  and  cocaine  be  im- 
ported to  take  the  place  of  opium?  Western  com- 
mercialism would  gladly  sacrifice  China's  future  to 
fill  its  own  pockets.  "  A  cigaret  in  the  mouth  of 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  China "  is  the 
motto  of  a  large  international  tobacco  company. 
Gambling  is  a  characteristic  Chinese  vice.  It  was 
prohibited   in   Siam    in    1907,   when   the   king   re-    / 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       167 

ceived  a  petition  from  the  missionaries  and  the 
American  minister  setting  forth  the  evil  results 
among  the  Siamese. 

Opposition  to  Slavery  and  Rum.  The  institution 
of  slavery^  has  been  in  the  last  half  century  con- 
stantly attacked  by  the  missionary  enterprise.  To 
Livingstone  that  was  the  "  open  sore  of  the  world," 
and  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston  has  borne  unimpeachable 
witness :  "  Livingstone's  verbal  attack  on  the  Arab 
slave-trade  in  Central  Africa  led  directly  to  the  ex- 
tirpation of  that  devastating  agency."  ^  In  some 
other  parts  of  Africa  the  slave  traffic  still  lingers. 
But  the  new  Republic  of  Portugal  has  recently 
abolished  slavery  in  Angola,  West  Africa,  and  the 
native  Christian  churches  will  not  tolerate  a  slave- 
holder in  their  membership.  The  African  trade  in 
rum  is  now  being  rapidly  restricted. 

Superstition  Broken.  Degrading  superstitions, 
the  offspring  of  fear  of  the  gods,  are  weakening. 
Mr.  Dan  Crawford  tells  us  that  the  cannibals  of 
Central  Africa  always  translate  John  xiv.  i,  in  a 
peculiar  and  pathetic  way :  "  Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled  because  ye  believe  in  God;  believe  also 
in  me."  Every  one  of  them  believes  in  God,  and 
such  belief  keeps  him  troubled  and  fearful.  To 
him  the  message  that  God  is  love  is  a  novel  and 
joyous  release.  And  when  such  release  is  attained, 
the  rain-doctor  loses  his  prestige  and  his  employ- 
ment,— henceforth  *'  the  clouds  are  his  chariot." 
The  witch-doctor  is  no  longer  indispensable  when 
*  The  Opemng  up  of  Africa,  250. 


i68       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

men  have  heard :  ''  I  give  unto  you  power  over  all 
the  power  of  the  enemy."  The  "  evil  eye  "  loses 
its  baleful  effect.  Cannibalism — which  seems  to 
savages  in  need  of  food  far  more  commendable 
than  the  white  man's  wanton  killing  ''  for  sport  " — 
becomes  impossible  when  each  human  being  is  seen 
as  God's  child. 

Christianizing  the  Social  Order.  The  various  re- 
forms we  have  so  far  mentioned  are  not  separate 
attempts  to  combat  separate  evils.  They  are  all  a 
part  of  one  vast  undertaking — the  Christianization 
of  the  social  order.  It  is  useless  to  fight  cruelty 
unless  we  also  fight  its  chief  cause — licentiousness. 
We  shall  never  win  the  victory  over  gambling  until 
we  win  over  its  close  ally — strong  drink.  To  fight 
one  evil  alone  is  to  fail.  All  of  them  are  parts  of 
a  wrong  social  order,  filled  with  disdain  for  the 
Christian  ideal.  The  one  thing  we  seek  is  simply 
the  incarnation  of  the  Christian  ideal  and  the  Chris- 
tian purpose  in  human  society  and  all  human  insti- 
tutions. Rightly  was  it  said  by  the  Rev.  T.  E. 
Slater:  ''  We  need  to  enlarge  our  idea  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  evangelization  of  men  and  races  until 
it  comes  to  stand  for  the  perfection  of  the  soul 
in  the  perfect  society.  Since  the  soul,  the  man 
himself,  cannot  be  fully  saved,  or  made  whole  and 
strong,  as  long  as  the  soul's  environment,  its  con- 
ditions of  life,  are  unfavorable,  all  social  work, 
all  educational  work,  all  medical  work,  all  indus- 
trial work,  is  work  done  for  the  soul  and  is  a  part 
of  its  salvation.  .  .  .  Above  and  beyond  the  preach- 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       169 

ing  and  teaching  of  certain  doctrines  of  reHgion, 
and  the  laboring  for  the  credit  of  a  particular 
[Missionary]  Society,  is  the  part  the  missionary 
plays  in  the  world's  evolution  toward  the  higher 
Christian  life.  He  stands  for  upward  and  forward 
social  and  national  movements  among  backward 
and  arrested  peoples,  as  a  representative  of  the 
divine  ideal  and  the  divine  kingdom  which  is  to 
embrace  and  unite  and  elevate  the  entire  human 
race."  ^ 

Imprisoned  Womanhood.  But  this  fight  for  a 
Christian  society  in  non-Christian  lands  is  to-day 
producing  two  especially  notable  results, — in  chang- 
ing the  social  status  of  womanhood  and  in  spread- 
ing the  spirit  of  democracy.  Throughout  the  world 
to-day  the  change  in  woman's  idea  of  her  own 
place  is  obvious,  and  the  theories  advocated  by 
feminists  are  startling  enough.  But  if  the  suffra- 
gettes in  England  have  found  provocation  for  law- 
less acts,  if  in  America  our  political  institutions 
are  sometimes  unjust  to  women,  what  shall  be  said 
of  the  immemorial  traditions,  the  iron-bound  cus- 
toms of  the  Orient  ?  In  the  lands  where  Hinduism 
and  Mohammedanism  prevail,  one  half  the  race 
is  completely  shut  out  from  the  life  of  the  world. 
There  civilization  has  been  created  by  man,  and 
mother,  sister,  and  wife  are  secluded  and  excluded. 
In  such  lands  for  a  woman  to  be  unmarried  is  to 
be  disgraced,  and  to  be  married  is  to  be  imprisoned. 
Veiled  women,  screened  by  the  suspicious  husband, 
*  Missions  and  Sociology,  6,  10. 


170        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

compelled  to  wear  a  mask — on  which  hideous  fea-  / 
tures  are  often  painted — walk  the  streets  of  the 
crowded  city,  and  veiled  women,  cowering,  shrink- 
ing, hastening,  tread  the  paths  through  all  the  fields. 
At  home  these  women,  guarded  by  unremitting 
jealousy  and  frequent  suspicion,  are  shut  within  the 
zenana  of  the  Hindu  or  the  harem  of  the  Moham- 
medan, where  education,  wholesome  exercise,  love 
of  nature,  and  personal  development  are  all  im- 
possible. 

A  Life  of  Subjection.  The  Buddhist  wife  has 
been  taught  that  she  has  no  soul,  and  her  highest 
hope  has  been  that  after  death  she  may  be  reborn 
as  a  man.  The  Confucian  wife  has  pattered  and 
toddled  about  the  house  upon  her  mere  stubs  of 
feet,  taught  that  her  supreme  duty  is  to  observe 
the  three  obediences — to  her  father,  her  husband, 
and  her  son.  The  Japanese  wife  has  been  forced 
into  complete  subjection  to  her  mother-in-law,  and 
has  married  not  an  individual  but  a  family.  To 
both  Chinese  and  Japanese  there  is  one  verse  in  our 
New  Testament  that  has  always  provoked  aston- 
ishment and  indignant  protest :  "  For  this  cause 
shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother  and  cleave 
unto  his  wife."  At  that  point  Christian  morality 
threatens  the  whole  social  order  of  the  Orient. 

Sanctioned  by  Religious  Systems.  But  while 
there  have  been  innumerable  examples  of  deep  af- 
fection for  wives  and  daughters,  it  is  fair  to  say 
that  this  subjection  of  women  to  man's  pleasure, 
man's  jealousy,  man's  caprice,   or  man's  memory 


hMim 


i-MM  iintit 


^^'"L 


:\rissiox  hospital,  madura.   ixdia 

Compounding  room  for  women  and  children;   25,159   prescriptions  cor 
pounded   last   year 

Hospital    for   men,   built   entirely   with   money   contributed  by   Hindus 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       171 

after  death,  is  not  an  incidental  abuse  of  Oriental 
society.  It  is  not  an  incubus,  a  horrible  perversion 
of  religion,  a  lamentable  failure  of  the  moral  ideal 
— like  our  American  lynching,  our  drunkenness, 
our  white  slave  traffic.  It  is  in  Asia  and  Africa 
the  moral  ideal  itself,  hallov^ed  by  the  most  sacred 
scriptures,  endorsed  by  many  of  the  great  religious 
teachers,  sanctioned  by  millenniums  of  history. 
*'  Her  business,"  says  Confucius,  ''  is  to  prepare 
food  and  wine.  Beyond  the  threshold  of  her  own 
apartments  she  should  not  be  known  for  evil  or 
for  good.  If  her  husband  dies,  she  should  not 
marry  again."  Manu,  the  great  Hindu  lawgiver, 
was,  according  to  Pundita  Ramabai,  "  one  of  those 
hundreds  who  have  done  their  best  to  make  woman 
a  hateful  being  in  the  world's  eye."  ^  Mohammed 
in  the  Koran  ^  commanded  :  ''  Marry  what  seems 
good  to  you  of  women,  by  twos  or  threes  or  fours; 
and  if  ye  fear  that  ye  cannot  be  equitable,  then 
only  one,  or  what  your  right  hands  possess  (^i.e., 
female  slaves)." 

Cured  by  New  Conception  of  Personality.  Chris- 
tianity in  non-Christian  lands  is  thus  face  to  face 
with  age-long  injuries  to  womanhood  on  an 
enormous  scale.  The  only  remedy  is  in  diffusing 
through  all  these  lands  the  Christian  conception  of 
the  value  of  personality.  To  lop  off  one  evil  custom 
after  another  is  like  cutting  off  thistle-tops,  while 
the  roots  remain.    The  root  of  the  customs  of  foot- 

*  The  High  Caste  Hindu  Women,  81. 
'  Koran,  Chapter  IV,  Verse  3. 


\y 


172       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

binding  and  infanticide,  of  child  marriage  and  child 
widowhood,  of  the  "  marriage "  of  girls  to  the 
temple  gods,  of  polygamy  and  concubinage,  is 
everywhere  the  same — the  degrading,  antichristian 
conception  of  woman  as  a  thing  rather  than  a  per- 
son. To  change  not  merely  the  laws  and  customs, 
but  the  conception  out  of  which  they  grew,  is  the 
tremendous  and  summoning  task  of  Christian  faith 
in  Eastern  lands.  Every  Christian  school  for  girls, 
like  the  Isabella  Thoburn  College  at  Lucknow,  like 
the  American  College  for  Girls  at  Constantinople, 
or  the  McTyeire  School  in  Shanghai,  is  changing 
national  and  racial  ideals.  Every  Christian  nurse 
or  woman  physician  who  enters  the  Indian  zenana 
is  not  merely  healing  one  patient, — she  is  creating 
a  new  sentiment  for  woman  and  a  new  idea  of  her 
value  to  the  world.  The  Lady  Dufferin  hospitals 
in  India  are  the  direct  outgrowth  of  Christian  work 
for  Indian  women.  Every  woman  who  maintains 
in  the  foreign  field  a  Christian  home,  avoids  occa- 
sions of  offense  and  misunderstanding,  and  quietly 
exercises  the  freedom  of  emancipated  Christian 
womanhood,  is  an  object-lesson  to  all  the  commu- 
nity around  her.  Every  Christian  family  in  Asia 
or  Africa  is  a  sociological  demonstration  of  the 
power  of  Christianity  to  set  womanhood  free,  and 
yet  keep  it  pure  and  strong.  Christianity  teaches 
and  demonstrates  that  the  purity  of  womanhood 
depends  not  on  veiled  faces  and  latticed  windows, 
not  on  seclusion  and  self-effacement  and  abject  de- 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       173 

pendence,  but  on  the  Christian  ideal  cherished  in 
the  mind  and  the  heart. 

Emancipation  for  Service.  Indeed,  this  Chris- 
tian ideal  of  emancipation  for  the  sake  of  service 
is  the  only  thing  that  can  preserve  the  woman's 
movement  in  Oriental  lands  from  disaster. 
Women's  clubs  are  now  spreading  through  India 
and  China.  The  literature  of  woman's  suffrage  is 
eagerly  read  where  English  is  understood.  And, 
as  always  happens,  ''  strong  meat "  proves  unfitted 
for  ''  babes."  The  women  of  Persia  took  an 
enthusiastic  part  in  the  recent  nationalist  movement, 
and  will  not  again  be  content  with  the  fireside.  The 
women  of  Turkey  realize  that  one  reason  for  the 
defeat  of  Turkey  by  Bulgaria  in  the  recent  Balkan 
War  was  that  Turkish  women  were  shut  within 
the  harem,  while  Bulgarian  women  labored  inces- 
santly for — and  often  with — the  men  on  the  fight- 
ing line.  "  The  women  of  Syria,  as  a  whole," 
writes  Dr.  Hoskins,  "  are  being  carried  away  by 
the  more  frivolous  fashions  of  Europe.  The  pres- 
ence of  so  many  foreigners  in  Syria,  and,  of  recent 
years,  of  the  lower  classes  of  European  cities,  has 
resulted  in  a  sort  of  demoralization  of  the  women 
of  Syria.  They  are  too  willing  to  copy  the  more 
questionable  habits  of  foreigners  in  dress  and 
behavior,  instead  of  striving  after  the  perfection 
of  their  talents  and  the  foundations  of  real 
character." 

Radicalism.  The  Chinese  women  who  have 
unbound  their  feet  are  now  asking  if  those  women 


174       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

in  England  who  are  committing  acts  of  violence 
are  really  pointing  out  the  path  of  progress  for 
the  women  of  China.  Some  radical  spirits 
are  affirming  that  Chinese  women  should  now  cast 
off  all  restraints  and  demonstrate  their  power  to 
lead  the  feminists  of  the  world.  We  can  read  be- 
tween the  lines  of  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Na- 
tional Conference  of  missionaries  held  at  Shanghai 
in  March,   191 3: 

Conservative  Aims.  "  (i)  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  women  should  unite  to  study  social  and 
industrial  problems,  such  as  child  welfare,  healthful 
and  modest  dress  for  girls  and  women,  the  physical 
and  moral  health  of  women  in  factories  and  other 
employments,  and  the  care  of  the  unfortunate 
classes.  (2)  In  view  of  the  misconceptions  which 
prevail  as  to  woman's  '  freedom  and  power,'  it 
seems  well,  while  we  encourage  '  New  China '  in 
the  many  wise  reforms  advocated,  to  take  a  con- 
servative attitude  as  to  the  position  and  privileges  of 
woman,  and  to  impress  upon  her  that  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  home  is  the  true  goal  of  all  social  serv- 
ice. Inasmuch  as  this  end  can  only  be  attained  by 
the  regeneration  of  the  individual  through  the  trans- 
forming power  of  the  gospel,  therefore  in  all  social 
effort  the  primary  aim  should  be  to  bring  each  one 
into  personal  contact  with  Christ." 

Influence  for  Democracy.  A  second  and  momen- 
tous result  of  the  diffusion  of  Christian  teaching  is 
the  spread  of  democracy.  Other  causes  undoubt- 
edly cooperate  with  Christianity  in  this.     The  dif- 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       175 

fusion  of  news  by  rail  and  telegraph,  the  multipli- 
cation of  newspapers,  the  spread  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge demolishing  mythologies  and  superstitions — 
all  this  has  helped.  But  no  teachings  in  human  his- 
tory are  more  directly  democratic  than  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  Lord  Morley  in  his  life  of  Gladstone 
speaks  of  the  "  volcanic  elements  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount."  The  caste  system  of  India  has  been 
rightly  described  as  a  "  gigantic  conspiracy  against 
the  brotherhood  of  man."  Keshub  Chunder  Sen  in 
his  appeal  to  young  India  said :  *'  Caste  has  com- 
pletely and  hopelessly  wrecked  social  unity,  har- 
mony, and  happiness,  and  for  centuries  it  has  op- 
posed all  human  progress."  But,  while  the  caste 
system  is  not  breaking  down,  it  is  undergoing  much 
modification  to-day.  The  Brahman  attends  the 
mass-meetings  now  so  popular  in  the  large  cities, 
even  though  he  may  sit  dangerously  near  some  man 
that  he  despises.  He  is  facing  the  dilemma  of 
either  owning  that  the  fifty  million  outcastes  are 
true  Hindus,  for  whose  welfare  he  is  responsible, 
or  else  that  they  are  not  Hindus,  and  therefore  the 
Hindu  representation  in  the  "  legislative  councils  " 
of  the  Indian  government  should  be  reduced.  Un- 
der the  constant  challenge  of  Christianity  he  is 
being  forced  to  ask  the  searching  question,  "  Am 
I  my  brother's  keeper?  " 

Narrow  Bounds  of  Brotherhood.  Always,  as  we 
have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter.  Oriental  society 
has  been  marked  by  cohesion  and  solidarity.     The 


176       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

individual  has  never  stood  alone,  he  has  been  up- 
held and  protected  by  his  tribe,  his  clan,  his  caste, 
his  village  community.  But  beyond  this  group  he 
has  found  no  sympathy  and  has  given  none.  To  be 
neighborly  to  a  man  outside  the  group  has  seemed 
unreasonable  and  absurd.  Social  classes  have  been 
water-tight  compartments.  The  Chinese  mandarin 
has  scorned  to  concern  himself  with  the  lepers  who 
live  on  the  boats  in  the  river,  or  with  the  ignorant 
populace  who  cannot  read  their  own  language.  The 
Indian  Brahman  is  kind  and  generous  to  his  own 
caste,  but  contemptuous  toward  all  outside  of  it. 
The  2i7,ooo,oooHindus  of  India  are  hostile  to  every 
attempt  to  benefit  the  66,000,000  Mohammedans 
who  live  among  them,  and  that  hostility  is  repaid 
with  ample  interest.  Under  such  conditions  na- 
tionalism in  India  and  patriotism  in  China  have 
been  well-nigh  impossible. 

Dawn  of  a  New  Vision.  But  now  a  vision  of  the 
possible  brotherhood  of  man  is  rising  over  all  the 
East.  A  spirit  of  genuine  democracy  is  slowly 
— very  slowly — spreading,  not  through  the  revo- 
lutionary uprising  of  any  one  class,  but  through 
the  gradual  diffusion  of  a  sense  of  the  value  of  all 
human  beings  to  one  another  and  to  God.  The 
worth  of  human  life,  the  dependence  of  each  life 
on  all  others,  the  participation  of  each  humblest 
life  in  the  eternal — these  are  the  great  insurgent 
conceptions,  at  once  democratic  and  Christian,  that 
are  shaking  the  foundations  of  many  an  Eastern 
kingdom.     As  Professor  Charles  R.  Henderson  of 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       177 

the  University  of  Chicago  has  written,  after  a  lec- 
ture tour  in  the  Farther  East :  *'  In  a  land  where 
the  outcaste  has  no  esteem,  where  ascetic  renuncia- 
tion of  normal  desire  is  regarded  as  the  climax 
of  holiness,  where  being  itself  is  misery  and  ex-  ^ 
tinction  of  self  is  the  idea  of  heaven,  our  whole-  ^' 
some,  natural  conception  of  life  as  good,  divine, 
and  eternal  comes  as  a  revelation."  ^ 

Real  Christly  Deeds.  We  see  then  that  the  real 
gesta  Christi,  the  true  achievements  of  Christianity 
in  the  foreign  field,  have  not  been  triumphs  of  ora- 
tory, or  victories  in  theological  debate.  They  have 
been  the  visible  changes,  both  destructive  and  con- 
structive, which  Christian  apostles — evangelists, 
doctors,  nurses,  explorers,  translators,  teachers, 
engineers,  farmers — have  wrought  in  the  social  or- 
der and  in  the  ideals  of  life.  The  conception  of 
social  service,  passing  far  beyond  the  bounds  of 
village,  or  tribe,  or  caste,  has  been  introduced  into 
stratified  and  immobile  masses  of  humanity.  Every  \/ 
famine  in  the  Farther  East  has  furnished  oppor- 
tunity for  Christian  service  to  show  its  unanswer- 
able quality.  In  1911-12  a  great  famine  swept  over 
large  sections  of  eastern  and  central  China.  A 
Central  China  Famine  Relief  Committee  was 
formed,  which  disbursed  over  $500,000,  contributed 
largely  by  Europe  and  America.  One  hundred  mis-  / 
sionaries  gave  from  one  to  six  months  each  to  that 
work.  For  over  a  year  all  central  China  heard 
and  saw  a  living  interpretation  of  the  words :  ''  I 
"^International  Review  of  Missions,  October,  1913. 


178       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

was  hungry  and  ye  gave  me  meat."  In  the  museum 
of  Brown  University  is  preserved  a  goblet  of  solid 
gold  presented  to  Dr.  Albert  A.  Bennett  by  the 
Japanese  government  for  his  memorable  service  at 
the  time  when  a  great  tidal  wave  inundated  north- 
ern Japan.^ 

Ministry  to  Lepers.  In  June,  1913,  was  opened 
the  first  leper  asylum  in  Siam,  in  the  northern  city 
of  Chiengmai,  the  gift  of  Americans  ''  whose  heart 
God  had  opened."  The  buildings  were  intended 
to  accommodate  96  lepers,  but  on  the  first  day  100 
were  under  the  care  of  the  mission.  Soon  after 
the  first  leper  church  of  Siam  was  organized,  and 
the  few  members,  earning  forty  cents  a  day,  con- 
tributed at  the  first  service  $9.00  to  lighten  the 
suffering  of  their  fellow  lepers  in  other  lands. ^  But 
that  hospital  in  Siam  is  only  the  last  of  scores  that 
have  been  opened  in  the  Farther  East  in  the  last 
half  century.  The  "  Mission  to  Lepers  in  India 
and  the  East "  has  over  fifty  leper  stations  in  its 
care.  Such  facts  need  no  "  moral  "  appended,  no 
translation  into  native  dialect.  They  are  like  the 
raised  type  used  in  teaching  the  blind  to  read. 

Far-reaching  Service.  And  what  shall  we  more 
say?  The  time  would  fail  to  tell  of  orphanages, 
homes  for  cripples,  "  doors  of  hope "  for  fallen 
women,  refuges  for  victims  of  opium,  schools  for 

^For  a  long  list  of  decorations  and  honors  conferred  upon 
missionaries  by  various  foreign  governments,  see  J.  S,  Dennis, 
Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  Vol.  Ill,  453- 

^Letter  of  J.  W.  McKean,  Record  of  Christian  Work, 
October,  1913. 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       179 

the  deaf,  for  the  bhnd,  hospitals  for  the  insane, — 
all  of  them  visible  embodiments  of  the  Christian 
message.  Outside  the  regular  church  missions  is 
the  noble  work  of  the  Red  Cross  Society,  the  in- 
ternational organization  which  eagerly  follows  after 
famine,  earthquake,  cholera,  plague,  and  battle, 
bearing  on  its  gracious  front  the  symbol  of  the 
eternal  sacrifice.  Outside  the  churches  is  the  Sal- 
vation Army,  jeered  at  through  the  first  twenty- 
five  years  of  its  history  as  crude  and  coarse  and 
vulgar,  envied  through  all  recent  years  as  a  mar- 
vel of  organization  and  efficiency.  Outside  the 
churches,  yet  in  closest  sympathy  with  them,  is 
the  remarkable  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  of  which  we  shall  speak  later,  an  insti- 
tution which  has  given  a  fresh  and  vital  interpre- 
tation of  Christian  manhood  to  the  whole  Eastern 
hemisphere. 

The  Yoshiwara  Restored.  When  in  Tokyo  three 
years  ago  the  Yoshiwara,  or  "  red-light "  district, 
was  swept  away  by  a  conflagration,  the  most 
thoughtful  men  and  women  of  Japan  opposed  its 
rebuilding  as  a  gilded  palace  of  prostitution.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  joined  hands 
with  the  Salvation  Army  and  the  Women's  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union,  entreating  that  such  a  pub- 
lic exhibition  of  womanhood  in  cages  should  not  be 
restored  and  perpetuated  by  the  Japanese  capital. 
But  in  vain.  The  moral — or  rather  immoral — con- 
ception of  womanhood  was  too  old  and  too  strong, 
and  in  the  capital  of  one  of  the  foremost  nations 


i8o       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  the  twentieth  century  the  cages  still  flaunt  their 
allurement  for  men,  their  contempt  for  women. 

Moral  Strength  of  Japan  in  Question.  Such 
moral  failures  in  a  highly  educated  nation  lie  behind 
a  significant  article  in  a  recent  number  of  a  lead- 
ing Japanese  magazine,  Taiyo  (The  Sun)  by  Pro- 
fessor Ukita  of  Waseda  University  on  "  Christian- 
ity's Contribution  to  the  Civilization  of  Japan."  He 
declares  that  Japan  has  received  much  of  its  moral 
energy,  like  its  science,  by  injection,  and  asks 
whether  the  Japanese  people  have  within  them  the 
necessary  powers  of  moral  advance  if  intercourse 
with  other  nations  should  cease.  Then  he  makes 
candid  reply  as  follows :  ''  I  can  but  say  that  I  think 
we  do  not.  We  may  be  able  to  maintain  the  status 
quo,  but  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  we  can  go  no 
further.  In  the  forty-fifth  year  after  the  Restora- 
tion we  could  make  the  display  of  the  suicide  of 
General  Nogi  and  his  wife !  Our  people  have  been 
under  the  influence  of  the  teachings  of  Buddha  and 
Confucius  for  ages,  and  have  gotten  full  of  the 
ideas  of  rank.  Woman  is  despised;  the  common 
people  and  the  poor  are  not  considered.  While  we 
entertain  such  mean  opinions,  how  is  it  possible 
for  us  to  acquire  the  elements  of  a  perfect  morality? 
The  spirit  of  benevolence  and  pity  has  not  gained 
acceptance  among  us.  Are  not  our  people  insult- 
ing the  Korean  people  and  subjecting  them  to 
tyranny?  How  many  are  there,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Christians,  who  love  them?  Our  people 
lose  sight  of  the  personal  worth  of  man.     Chris- 


Social  Achievements  of  Missionaries       i8r 

tianity  teaches  there  is  a  God  of  love,  and  that  he 
made  man  in  his  own  image.  If  we  lose  sight  of 
these  truths,  how  can  we  make  progress  in  the  es- 
sential elements  of  civilization?  Without  these 
saving  elements  the  material  civilization  of  Japan 
may  begin  to  decay  at  any  time.  Christianity  pos- 
sesses these  essentials,  and  I  firmly  believe  it  neces- 
sary to  look  to  Christianity  to  supply  these  needed 
elements." 

Christianity's  Dynamic.  To  Eastern  peoples, 
thus  reaching  out  in  all  candor  and  sincerity  for 
a  new  moral  dynamic,  Christianity  comes  as  a  social 
salvation.  It  is  not  a  program,  but  a  principle ;  not 
a  code  of  commandments,  but  a  moral  energy,  victo- 
rious, and  inexhaustible.  Its  conception  of  God 
is  a  reversal  of  human  fears.  Its  conception  of  man 
is  a  transformation  of  all  human  values.  Its  con- 
ception of  society  creates  even  amid  our  tragic  com- 
bination of  palaces  and  slums  a  slowly-rising  city 
of  God.  Its  trumpet-note  gives  courage  to  de- 
jected, forgotten  millions.  To  all  the  Eastern  races, 
world-w^eary,  sadly  wise,  comes  to-day  the  great 
offer,  "  Behold,  I  make  all  thing^s  new !  " 


ENLARGING   FUNCTION   OF   THE 
MISSIONARY 


Society  is  the  field  of  Christianity.  To  bring  the  sound  and 
godly  life  to  perfection  in  the  narrow  field  of  individualism  is  im- 
possible. The  great  laws  of  life  depend  upon  reciprocity,  and  can- 
not be  brought  to  full  effect  until  men  are  obeying  them  together. 
There  are  duties  that  are  altogether  social;  high  virtues,  too,  that 
cannot  be  exercised  except  in  the  social  field.  The  Christian 
character  is  a  social  character  as  well  as  a  private,  and  the  full 
victory  of  Jesus'  ideal  can  be  won  only  by  a  revolution  that 
touches  every  fiber  of  the  social  heart  and  every  action  of  the 
social   life. 

— William  Newton  Clarke. 

St.  Paul,  amidst  the  decay  of  Israel,  could  cry,  "  Did  God  cast 
off  his  people?  God  forbid.  .  .  .  God  did  not  cast  off  his  people 
which  he  foreknew!  "  One  who  has  moved  with  a  reverent  mind 
through  the  religious  life  of  the  East,  who  has  seen  the  tragedy  of 
its  enormous  spiritual  possibility  submerged  beneath  its  enormous 
moral  deficiency,  may  also  cry:  Nay!  God  hath  not  cast  away  the 
suffering,  sensitive  soul  of  the  East,  nor  left  himself  without  a 
witness   in   the    Oriental   consciousness. 

— Charles   Cuthbert  Hall. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ENLARGING  FUNCTION  OF  THE 
MISSIONARY 

Obsolete  Caricature.  Modern  developments  have 
compelled  us  to  revise  and  enlarge  our  definition  of 
a  missionary.  Some  of  us  well  remember  the  con- 
ventional idea  which  was  held  in  our  childhood. 
The  missionary  was  sometimes  pictured — in  words 
or  wood-cuts — as  a  gentleman  in  frock-coat,  stand- 
ing under  a  palm-tree,  discoursing  Western  doc- 
trines to  Eastern  savages  who  declined  to  assimilate 
it,  but  each  moment  threatened  to  assimilate  him. 
That  solitary  incongruous  figure  under  the  palm- 
tree  still  represents  the  missionary  enterprise  to 
many  who  fail  to  realize  the  immense  change 
brought  about  by  world-politics,  world-commerce, 
world-consciousness.  The  figure  was  always  a  cari- 
cature, and  to-day  it  has  ceased  to  exist. 

Present-day  Reality.  Still  the  missionary  is  a 
heroic  and  sometimes  a  lonely  figure.  But  a  true 
picture  would  show  him  not  only  making  addresses, 
but  digging  wells  (like  John  G.  Paton,  in  the  New 
Hebrides) ;  planting  cereals  and  fruits  (like  Dr. 
Robert  Moffat  in  Africa)  ;  building  ships  (like  John 
Williams,  building  his  Messenger  of  Peace  in  the 
South  Seas),  teaching  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  and 

185 


i86       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

printing;  acting  as  explorer,  engineer,  editor,  physi- 
cian, or  diplomat.  No  man  can  do  all  these  things, 
but  all  of  them,  and  a  hundred  others,  are  being 
done  by  modern  apostles  in  foreign  service.  The 
message  under  a  palm-tree  has  become  a  message 
built  into  homes  and  churches,  cut  into  canals  and 
wells,  woven  into  rugs  and  carpets,  hammered  out 
in  brass  and  iron  and  silver,  and  translated  into 
all  the  arts  which  mean  self-support,  self-respect, 
and  the  moral  discipline  of  daily  toil. 

Missionary  Explorers.  The  missionary  as  an  ex- 
plorer has  added  enormously  to  the  known  area  of 
the  globe.  Livingstone  alone  added  about  one  mil- 
lion square  miles  to  the  known  land-surface.  *'  Mis- 
sionary roads  "  were  built  years  ago  all  through  the 
Dark  Continent.  Men  of  intrepid  minds  and  daunt- 
less courage  have  faced  malaria,  poisoned  arrows, 
flooded  streams,  deadly  sunlight,  or  the  tsetse  fly, 
to  open  up  regions  where  no  white  man  without 
the  Christian  motive  would  ever  go.  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston  speaks  of  "  results  which  can  only  be  de- 
scribed as  momentous.  .  .  .  Almost  as  if  by  magic, 
a  few  years  after  landing,  the  missionaries  appear 
as  the  advisers  and  ministers  of  powerful  native 
chiefs.  The  Kaflirs  grasped  at  Wesleyan,  Presby- 
terian, Congregationalist,  and  Church  of  England 
missionaries,  as  men  who  would  educate  their  young 
people,  and  would  introduce  a  wholesome  form  of 
trade."  ^  The  missionaries  who  come  later  may 
settle  down,  if  they  choose,  into  stable  abodes  and 
*  The  Opening  Up  of  Africa,  249. 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     187 

intensive  work.  The  first  to  enter  a  new  land  are 
necessarily  path-breakers.  They  must  find  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  they  are  sent.  They  must  ford  the 
streams,  climb  to  the  sources  of  rivers,  penetrate 
swamp  and  jungle,  and  locate  the  headquarters  of 
the  work.  To  do  that  wisely  they  must  scientifically 
observe  the  products  of  the  soil,  the  climate,  the  rain- 
fall, the  population.  Many  a  mission  has  been  forced 
to  migrate  because  the  pioneers  failed  to  bring 
science  as  well  as  devotion  and  heroism  to  their  task. 
Maps  and  Ships.  Some  of  the  great  map-makers 
of  the  world  have  been  apostles  of  the  faith,  driven 
to  map-making  by  sheer  necessity.  The  English 
missionary,  Grenfell,  published  his  map  of  the 
Kongo  River  in  ten  sections,  the  work  being  car- 
ried through  the  press  by  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society.  The  four  great  African  rivers, — the 
Kongo,  the  Nile,  the  Niger,  and  the  Zambezi,  with 
all  their  vast  and  populous  valleys — were  made 
known  to  the  world  largely  through  the  ceaseless 
urge  of  the  missionary  motive.^  It  was  not  the  mak- 
ing of  maps,  but  the  finding  of  men,  which  formed 
the  goal  of  fifty  years  of  daring  African  explora- 
tion. The  islands  of  the  South  Pacific  were  many  of 
them  placed  on  the  map  by  missionaries.  From  1830, 
when  John  Williams  in  his  home-made  ship  crossed 
1,800  miles  of  ocean  between  the  Hervey  and  the 
Samoan  Islands,  down  to  the  present  day,  the  mis- 
sion ships  have  flitted  back  and  forth  among  the 

^J.    S.   Dennis,  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress ^ 
Vol.  Ill,  426. 


i88       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

green  islands  of  the  South  Pacific.  The  Messenger 
of  Peace,  the  Caroline,  the  Morning  Star  (five  ships 
bore  the  latter  name),  and  a  score  of  others  have 
cruised  incessantly  through  coral  islands  filled  with 
strange  fruits  and  bright-hued  birds  and  naked  war- 
riors. The  unique  work  of  Dr.  W.  T.  Grenfell, 
sailing  year  after  year  with  his  medicine-chest  along 
the  icy  shores  of  Labrador,  has  given  us  a  wealth 
of  knowledge  in  geography  and  geology,  as  well 
as  in  the  psychology  of  a  most  interesting  people. 
Who  will  write  the  fascinating  story  of  the  mis- 
sionary ships,  of  the  Christian  faith  afloat?  Such 
a  history,  stretching  from  Equator  to  Arctic  regions, 
would  hold  readers  spellbound.  If  brought  up  to 
date,  it  must  include  Captain  Bickel's  "  little  white 
ship,"  the  Fiikuin  Maru,  now  cruising  all  the  year 
through  the  Inland  Sea  of  Japan,  dropping  anchor 
at  420  dififerent  towns  and  villages.  Yet  in  1823 
John  Williams  was  compelled  by  English  senti- 
ment to  sell  his  ship  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not 
a  ''  spiritual  "  agency ! 

Mass  of  Helpful  Data.  Luther  H.  Gulick's 
observations,  geographical  and  meteorological,  in 
Micronesia,  have  been  the  basis  of  navigators' 
charts  ever  since  they  were  made.  The  volcanic 
eruptions  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  were  chronicled 
for  a  half  century  by  American  missionaries.  The 
School  of  Tropical  Medicine  in  London  derived 
most  of  its  early  knowledge  of  tropical  diseases 
and  remedies  from  missionary  correspondence. 
The  flora  and  fauna  of  Alaska  were  described  in 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     189 

the  publications  of  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  long  be- 
fore our  government  was  ready  to  undertake  such 
investigation.  Quinine,  the  most  useful  of  all 
drugs,  is  due  to  the  Jesuit  missionaries  of  South 
America.  Formerly  this  was  administered  in  the 
form  of  pulverized  bark  of  the  chinchona  tree,  and 
called  ''  Jesuits'  bark.''  So  the  kola-nut  and  the 
Calabar  bean  were  brought  to  us  by  the  African 
missionary.  Dr.  Robert  H.  Nassau.^  Sorghum, 
which  is  now  a  valuable  American  crop,  was  intro- 
duced into  this  country  by  missionary  enterprise. 
These  are  merely  specimen  facts.  A  surprising 
and  convincing  array  of  such  facts  is  spread  over 
the  pages  of  Dr.  Dennis's  third  volume. 

Many  Improvements.  But  the  real  by-products 
of  the  enterprise  are  to  be  found,  not  in  what  Amer- 
ica has  received,  but  in  what  it  has  given.  The 
missionary  as  engineer,  builder,  planter  has  trans- 
formed whole  sections  of  the  globe.  We  cannot, 
of  course,  sharply  separate  his  work  in  this  respect 
from  that  of  the  commercial  traveler  or  the  gov- 
ernment agent,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  do  so.  In  some 
cases  the  missionary  has  simply  hastened  the  proc- 
ess ;  in  others  he  was  the  first  to  open  the  paths  and 
build  the  roads  over  which  trades  and  governments 
have  followed.  In  the  South  Seas  he  has  been  the 
pioneer,  carrying  cows  and  sheep  and  grains  and 
tools  to  islands  that  had  never  seen  them.  He  has 
taught  the  South  Sea  Islanders  the  uses  of  their 

*  W.  W.  Keen,  "  The  Service  of  Missions  to  Science 
and  Society,"  10. 


190       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

native  arrowroot,  by  the  sale  of  which  many  a 
church  has  been  supported.  He  has  carried  looms 
and  cotton-gins,  spades  and  wheelbarows  to  people 
who  had  done  all  their  work  with  bare  hands.  Sev- 
eral "  Christian  "  looms  have  been  invented  by  In- 
dian missionaries,  which  have  lifted  whole  villages 
out  of  poverty.  He  has  introduced  better  methods 
of  milling  grain,  thus  furnishing  protection  against 
scarcity  of  food.  He  has  invented  typewriters  for 
Burmese  and  Chinese, — in  the  latter  case  putting 
four  thousand  characters  on  a  single  machine.  He 
has  carried  thousands  of  plows  into  the  valley  of 
the  Zambezi  in  Africa.  ''  Among  the  Kaffirs  the 
missionaries  constructed  irrigation  ditches,  and 
taught  the  people  that  they  had  it  in  their  power 
to  control  their  water-supply.  They  were  alert  and 
eager  pupils  and  so  famine  was  banished  from 
among  them.  ...  In  Turkey  and  China  the  po- 
tato is  known  as  the  product  of  missions.  .  .  . 
Peanuts  have  become  a  most  helpful  and  profitable 
article  of  food  and  are  widely  cultivated,  especially 
in  China.  Western  fruits  and  berries  without  num- 
ber flourish.  .  .  .  Practically  all  that  is  known  of 
scientific  methods  of  farming  in  Africa,  in  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  in  wide  areas  in  Tur- 
key, India,  and  China,  originated  in  missions."  ^ 

Alexander  Mackay's  Example.  Mackay  of 
Uganda  was  a  genuine  type  of  engineering  mis- 
sionary. As  a  student  at  Edinburgh  he  spent  his 
afternoons  at  the  engineering  works  of  Miller  and 

*  James  L,  Barton,  Human  Progress  Through  Missions,  42. 


ALEXANDER 


MACKAY 


He  could  build  a  house,  or  a  boat,  or  a  bridge,  or  a  canal  with  equal 
facility  " 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     191 

Herbert,  not  far  from  his  college.  Dressed  in  a 
blue  smock,  he  worked  for  hours  each  day  in  turn- 
ing, fitting,  and  building  machines,  while  he  gave 
his  evenings  to  chemistry  and  physics  and  drawing. 
"  I  am  not  a  doctor,"  he  wrote,  ''  and  therefore 
cannot  go  out  as  such;  but  I  am  an  engineer,  and 
propose,  if  the  Lord  will,  to  go  as  an  engineering 
missionary.  Miserable  chimera,  you  will  no  doubt 
call  such  an  idea.  ...  I  know  the  plan  is  entirely 
new  and  wnll  be  difficult  to  work.  ...  I  hope  es- 
pecially to  connect  Christianity  with  modern  civili- 
zation." ^  So  this  ingenious  and  daring  spirit  car- 
ried into  Africa  as  part  of  his  missionary  outfit, 
steam-pipes,  cylinders,  piston-rods,  crank-shafts, 
pumps  and  forges,  screws  and  rivets.  With  his 
own  hands  he  calked  the  seams  of  his  boat,  worked 
at  his  lathe,  made  candles  of  ox-fat,  built  a  steam- 
engine,  fitted  up  a  pit-saw  to  make  planks,  and 
created  the  essentials  of  a  decent  life  in  Uganda. 
He  made  his  own  apparatus  for  determining  alti- 
tudes by  the  temperature  of  boiling  water.  He  set 
up  a  grindstone  and  operated  a  forge  while  teach- 
ing King  Mtesa  to  observe  the  Sabbath  and  ex- 
pounding to  him  the  Nicene  creed.  In  fourteen 
wonderful  years  he  saw  Uganda  made  a  Christian 
province.  The  Uganda  Railroad,  nearly  six  hun- 
dred miles  long,  was  Mackay's  suggestion,  as  it  is 
one  of  his  monuments. 

Surprising  Results.     The  changes  in  social  struc- 
ture consequent  on  missionary  advance  are  some- 
^  Life  of  A.  M.  Mackay,  by  his  sister,  20. 


192       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

times  a  direct  object  of  the  work,  and  sometimes 
are  a  totally  unintended  result.  When  Charles 
Darwin  sent  his  subscription  for  the  orphanage  at 
a  mission  station  in  Terra  del  Fuego,  he  wrote : 
"  The  success  of  the  Terra  del  Fuego  mission  is  most 
wonderful  and  shames  me,  as  I  always  prophesied 
utter  failure."  Again  he  said:  ''I  certainly  should 
have  predicted  that  not  all  the  missionaries  in  the 
world  could  have  done  what  has  been  done."  ^  It 
was  a  protest  of  Protestant  missionaries  in  the  basin 
of  the  Kongo  that  made  known  to  the  world  the 
unspeakable  cruelties  sanctioned  by  King  Leopold 
of  Belgium.  Their  testimony  aroused  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  civilized  world,  and  even  evoked  the 
partial  condemnation  of  the  methods  of  the  rubber 
traffic  by  the  King's  own  investigating  commission. 
Salvation  Army  Indian  Enterprises.  The  Salva- 
tion Army  in  India  is  now  making  exceedingly  in- 
teresting experiments  in  the  establishment  of  colo- 
nies and  schools  for  teaching  useful  arts  by  which 
the  people  may  be  lifted  out  of  groveling  poverty. 
United  States  Consul  Henry  D.  Baker  reports  that 
there  is  a  weaving  school  and  loom  factory  at 
Ludhiana  in  the  Punjab,  and  that  ''  more  than  eight 
hundred  improved  hand-looms  have  been  sent  out 
by  the  Army  in  the  last  five  years  to  various  places 
in  India,  Ceylon,  the  Straits  Settlements,  and  British 
East  Africa.  .  .  .  The  raw  silk  product  of  the  Sal- 
vation Army  in  India  is  already  being  exported  to 
England  and  Switzerland  .  .  .  and  samples  of  the 
'  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II,  307,  3o8. 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     193 

silk  produced  at  one  of  the  farms  in  Mysore  will 
be  loaned  to  interested  persons  on  application  to 
the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce, 
Washington,  D.  C."  ^  In  1912-13  the  Army  dis- 
tributed seventy  ounces  of  French  silk-worm  seed 
at  seventeen  silk  centers.  The  officer  in  charge 
reports :  ''  About  two  hundred  basins  have  been  al- 
ready established  by  us  for  the  production  of  what 
is  technically  known  as  raw  silk,  and  it  is  hoped 
before  the  close  of  the  year  to  increase  their  number 
to  at  least  five  hundred,  and  during  the  following 
year  to  at  least  one  thousand.  This  means  that 
we  shall  soon  be  producing  raw  silk  at  the  rate  of 
about  a  ton  per  month  and  shall  require  a  supply 
of  more  than  four  tons  per  month  of  cocoons.  A 
large  local  demand  for  cocoons  will  thus  be  created 
and  a  ready  market  found  by  silk-worm  growers  for 
their  produce.  .  .  .  With  the  improvement  of  the 
local  supply,  fostered  by  a  strong  local  demand,  the 
time  may  not  be  distant  when  India  will  yet  take 
its  place  alongside  China  and  Japan  in  the  export 
of  silk."  ^ 

Precedent  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  Of  course  the 
Salvation  Army  was  not  organized  for  the  produc- 
tion of  raw  silk.  It  has  been  driven  into  that  busi- 
ness by  sheer  necessity — by  the  dilemma  of  produc- 
tion or  starvation.  Its  converts  make  silk  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  apostle  Paul  made  tents,  and 

^  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Reports,  Washington,  Decem- 
l3er  19,  1913. 
Mbid,  1368. 


194       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

the  work  is  as  legitimate  and  admirable  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other.  If  it  be  objected  that  the 
apostle  did  not  establish  a  tent-making  "  plant  "  to 
employ  his  converts,  we  answer:  neither  did  he 
establish  any  school  or  hospital.  He  was  obliged 
to  do  single-handed,  and  in  single  instances,  what 
we  now  may  do  on  a  vast  scale.  He  wrote  slowly 
and  carefully  a  single  copy  of  a  letter,  while  we 
now  print  copies  of  that  same  letter  at  the  rate  of 
two  thousand  an  hour.  He  banished  fever  from 
one  stricken  man — the  father  of  Publius,  at  Malta 
— while  we  banish  it  from  a  city  or  a  province. 
He  addressed  a  little  Christian  company  in  an  upper 
chamber  at  midnight,  where  we  may  speak  by  tele- 
graph or  cable  to  the  ''  Holy  Church  throughout 
all  the  world."  These  are  the  "  greater  works  "  our 
Lord  promised  men  should  do.  The  tent-maker  of 
Tarsus  would  find  much  to  approve  in  the  canal- 
digging,  silk-spinning  Christians  of  India. 

Danger  of  Isolation.  ''  To  isolate  the  Christian 
convert  from  his  group,"  says  a  well-known  mis- 
sionary, ''  to  treat  him  as  if  he  were  independent 
of  social  relations,  is  to  deal  with  an  abstraction. 
There  is  no  such  individual.  If  he  is  to  be  saved,  he 
must  be  saved  in  and  not  out  of  his  social  relations. 
Modern  social  work  has  indubitably  shown  that 
changes  in  one's  environment  do  most  certainly 
produce  changes  in  the  individual.  .  .  .  Admit 
that  a  favorable  physical  environment  assists 
goodness,  lessens  certain  kinds  of  temptation  and 
stimulates    hope,    and    a    social    mission    of    the 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     195 

Church  at  once  appears.  Perhaps  it  was  some 
such  point  of  view  that  led  a  noted  South  India 
pastor  to  study  the  government  blue  books  on  agri- 
culture, with  the  result  that  the  crops  of  Christians 
in  his  parish  are  twice  the  size  of  those  of  non- 
Christians.  .  .  .  Saving  men's  souls  calls  for  social 
action  as  well  as  for  personal  work."  ^ 

In  Diplomatic  Service.  In  the  sphere  of  diplo- 
macy and  government  the  results  of  mission- 
ary effort  have  usually  been  incidental  and  unfore- 
seen, but  none  the  less  momentous.  One  of  the 
most  conspicuous  pieces  of  international  service  was 
the  translation  into  Chinese  of  Wheaton's  Interna- 
tional Lazv  by  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin.  The  very  con- 
ception of  a  law  superior  to  all  the  nations,  and 
binding  all  together  in  mutual  obligation,  was  alien 
to  the  Eastern  mind.  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams  was 
for  twenty  years  charge  d'aif aires  of  the  American 
legation  in  China,  and  to  him  is  due  the  insertion 
of  the  "  toleration  clause  "  in  our  treaty  with  China, 
which  was  subsequently  included  in  England's 
treaty,  also.  The  first  diplomatic  negotiations  be- 
tween America  and  China  were  conducted  in  1844 
by  Caleb  Cushing,  who  had  as  interpreters  and 
secretaries  of  legation  two  famous  missionaries — 
Dr.  E.  C.  Bridgman  and  Dr.  Peter  Parker.  Dr. 
Robert  Morrison  was  adviser  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment for  twenty-five  years  at  Canton.  Verbeck, 
long  known  as  the  "  Father  of  the  Japanese  consti- 

*  D.  J.  Fleming,  "  Social  Mission  of  the  Church  in  India," 
12. 


196       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

tution,"  induced  Japan  in  1871  to  send  an  embassy 
to  Europe  and  America,  to  study  the  methods  of 
other  nations  and  estabHsh  friendly  relations.  These 
are  only  single  cases  out  of  hundreds  that  might 
be  adduced.  ''  Up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury," says  the  Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  "  Christian 
missionaries  were  an  absolute  necessity  in  diplo- 
matic intercourse."  ^ 

In  Recent  Crises.  The  siege  of  the  legations  in 
Peking  in  1900  thrilled  the  civilized  world. 
Through  those  terrible  months  the  heroism  of 
Chinese  Christians  was  demonstrated,  but  no  less 
clear  was  the  courageous  leadership  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. Mr.  Conger,  then  United  States  ambas- 
sador at  Peking,  wrote  to  the  American  missiona- 
ries :  "  I  beg  in  this  hour  of  our  deliverance  to 
express  what  I  know  to  be  the  universal  sentiment 
of  our  Diplomatic  Corps,  the  sincere  appreciation 
of,  and  profound  gratitude  for,  the  inestimable 
help  which  you  and  the  native  Christians  under 
you  have  rendered  toward  our  preservation.  With- 
out your  intelligent  and  successful  planning,  and 
the  uncomplaining  execution  by  the  Chinese,  I  be- 
lieve our  salvation  would  have  been  impossible."^ 
When  the  Chinese  Revolution  came  in  19 12,  many 
of  the  leaders  were  Christians,  or  men  educated, 
like  Sun  Yat-sen,  in  Christian  schools.  After  the 
Manchus  had  been  driven  out,  large  numbers  of 

^American  Diplomacy  in  the  Orient,  iii. 

'  J.  S.  Dennis,  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  Vol. 

HI,  396. 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     197 

Christians  were  elevated  to  important  positions, 
simply  because  others  could  not  be  found  who  pos- 
sessed the  requisite  *'  Western  learning."  In  the 
single  province  of  Kwantung  it  was  estimated  that 
sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  officials  were  Christians. 
The  missionaries  who  had  by  long  residence  gained 
Chinese  confidence  suddenly  found  themselves  the 
counselors  of  Chinese  judges,  assemblymen,  sena- 
tors, and  governors.  Many  of  the  reformers  re- 
garded Dr.  Martin  of  Peking  and  Dr.  Richard  of 
Shanghai  as  both  spiritual  guides  and  advisers  in 
all  civic  affairs. 

Promotion  of  World  Peace.  The  cause  of  world- 
peace  owes  more  to  the  ambassadors  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  than  to  any  other  single  agency.  Among 
savage  tribes  they  have  gone  repairing  the  damage 
done  by  the  white  man's  rum,  his  vices,  his  cruelties. 
But  amiong  the  older  and  stronger  peoples  the  mis- 
sionary has  constantly  been  mediator  and  inter- 
preter. ''  No  single  person,"  said  the  Japan  Mail, 
*'  has  done  as  miuch  as  the  missionary  to  bring  for- 
eigners and  Japanese  into  close  intercourse."  The 
missionary  indeed  may  be  tempted  to  exceed  his 
province  and  assume  the  role  of  political  leadership 
— a  mistake  often  made  by  Roman  Catholics  with 
their  conviction  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Church.  But  in  his  legitimate  capacity  as  inter- 
preter of  one  race  to  another,  the  missionary  has  in 
thousands  of  cases  removed  perilous  misunderstand- 
ings and  cemented  bonds  of  international  amity. 

God-revealing  Love  the   Unifying  Force.     The 


198       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

federation  of  the  world  cannot  be  brought  about  by 
laws,  or  tribunals,  or  treaties,  so  long  as  the  world 
lacks  a  unifying  force.  What  shall  that  force  be? 
The  expansion  of  commerce?  The  influence  of  uni- 
versities? The  power  of  the  press?  The  growing 
organization  of  labor?  All  these  things  may  help 
mightily  toward  the  great  goal  of  universal  peace. 
But  they  are  instruments,  not  creators.  University 
and  newspaper  and  labor  federation  are  the  chan- 
nels through  which  the  stream  may  flow,  not  the 
stream  itself.  The  real  power  is  in  the  ever-flowing 
conviction  of  human  brotherhood  based  on  divine 
Fatherhood.  The  real  power  is  the  proclamation 
of  the  divine  unity  and  love,  and  the  human  unity 
and  love  which  must  follow.  Christianity  gives  cer- 
tain root-ideas,  certain  primal  convictions,  deeper 
than  all  differences  in  costume  or  custom,  in  habits 
and  laws.  And  these  root-ideas,  concerning  the  re- 
lation of  all  men  to  one  another  and  to  God,  once 
accepted,  will  create  a  world  unity  that  must  en- 
dure. Before  we  can  have  international  peace  we 
must  have  international  conscience  and  international 
friendship.  But  wherever  the  missionaries  have 
attacked  world-evils — like  slavery  in  Africa,  atroci- 
ties in  Armenia,  industrial  cruelty  in  Peru,  opium- 
smoking  in  China — they  have  been  creating  an  in- 
ternational conscience,  now  growing  more  sensitive 
and  powerful  with  each  decade. 

Establishing  the  Golden  Rule.  An  international 
friendship  is  composed  of  the  friendship  of 
individuals.      There  are   to-day  twenty-five   thou- 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     199 

sand  American  and  European  missionaries  scat- 
tered throughout  the  world,  each  one  of  them 
a  devoted  friend  of  some  foreign  tribe  or  nation 
or  race,  demonstrating  his  friendship  by  offer- 
ing his  life.  And  each  one  of  them  is  propa- 
gating his  friendliness  among  his  relatives,  his  sup- 
porting churches,  and  his  fellow  country^men  at 
hom.e.  Can  we  overestimate  the  silent  force  of 
such  invisible  international  bonds?  Each  mission- 
ary life  is  but  a  slender  filament  stretched  between 
the  nations,  but  all  together  they  constitute  a  woven 
network  from  which  no  nation  can  escape.  If  yel- 
low journalism  seeks  to  inflame  the  American  mind 
against  Japan,  the  American  apostles,  who  have  re- 
sided there  for  a  quarter  century,  make  the  most 
effective  reply.  If  fear  of  the  Chinese,  or  the  Hin- 
dus, spreads  on  the  Pacific  coast,  the  best  answer 
is  to  be  found  in  the  confidence  of  missionaries 
who  have  lived  among  those  races  for  years  and 
find  much  to  admire  and  love.  The  outbreaks  of 
petty  animosity,  the  flarings  up  of  old  race  preju- 
dice, find  their  constant  antidote  in  the  attitude  of 
men  who  can  say:  ''  We  know  this  nation;  we  can 
interpret  its  inner  self;  we  know  it  to  be  worthy 
of  honor  and  fellowship.  Do  to  these  people  as  you 
want  them  to  do  to  you."  The  golden  rule,  the 
gift  of  Christianity,  has  been  written  into  inter- 
national law  by  the  Christian  statesman  and  the 
Christian  missionary. 

Short-time  Appointments.     Accepting,  then,  this 
wider  interpretation  of  missionary  service,  we  may 


20O       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

note  certain  recent  developments  in  method.  One 
is  the  tendency  to  send  out  men  on  short-time  ap- 
pointments— often  on  a  three  years'  contract.  At 
the  end  of  the  three  years  the  missionary  is  then 
free  to  decide  whether  he  will  give  his  life  to  for- 
eign service,  or  will  return,  with  enlarged  horizon, 
to  the  homeland.  At  the  Canton  Christian  College 
and  at  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut, 
young  men,  unmarried,  just  graduated  from  college 
in  America,  are  frequently  thus  appointed.  Some 
of  the  finest  young  Americans  have  been  quite  will- 
ing to  enlist  for  a  few  years  of  service,  while  still 
uncertain  as  to  a  life-career.  At  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Mission  in  Egypt,  only  three  weeks  dis- 
tant from  New  York,  the  same  policy  is  followed. 
In  Robert  College  such  young  men  are  called  tutors. 
In  such  cases  the  salary  is  small,  hardly  larger 
than  would  be  paid  to  a  native  worker,  but  room 
and  board  are  furnished  in  addition.  It  is  under- 
stood that  at  the  end  of  the  three — or  four — years 
the  engagement  expires,  unless  the  contract  is  re- 
newed. At  Forman  Christian  College  six  young 
men  have  been  appointed  by  this  method  since  1898, 
and  one  of  them  has  already  become  a  well-known 
writer  on  missionary  methods. 

Become  Connecting-links.  Such  short-time  ap- 
pointments would  have  been  impossible  fifty  years 
ago.  The  journey  to  the  foreign  field  was  then 
many  months  in  length,  and  fraught  with  constant 
peril.  No  man  was  wanted  unless  he  was  willing 
to  bid  final  farewell  to  the  homeland,  begin  at  once 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     20 r 

the  study  of  the  vernacular,  and  dedicate  his  entire 
life  to  the  unique  work.  But  to-day  the  journey 
to  either  Egypt  or  Japan  is  short  and  attractive, 
even  Bombay  and  Colombo  and  Rangoon  are  easily 
reached,  mails  are  constant,  and  cable  communica- 
tion is  a  simple  matter.  Much  of  the  teaching  in 
Indian  and  Chinese  schools  is  now  in  English,  and 
the  American  teacher  can  meet  his  classes  the  day 
after  he  arrives.  By  thus  ''trying  out  "  a  new  re- 
cruit the  missionary  societies  are  able  to  avoid  mis- 
takes, and  when  they  make  a  permanent  appoint- 
ment it  is — as  in  our  American  colleges — with  full 
knowledge  of  the  man  appointed.  A  certain  disad- 
vantage may  ensue  from  the  frequent  changes  in 
the  teaching  staff  which  this  system  involves,  and 
in  other  ways,  so  that  some  missionaries  and  board 
secretaries  give  the  plan  only  qualified  approval. 
But  under  any  system  it  is  found  that  such  changes 
are  frequent.  Those  who  return  to  America  at  the 
end  of  the  three  years  have  gained  an  Oriental 
horizon  which  enriches  all  their  subsequent  life. 
They  become  warm  supporters  of  foreign  missions, 
speaking  of  the  enterprise  from  first-hand  knowl- 
edge. As  the  world  shrinks  steadily  in  size,  and 
travel  becomes  easier,  it  is  probable  that  we  shall 
find  an  ever-increasing  number  of  men  and  women 
who  will  spend  part  of  their  lives  at  home  and  part 
abroad.  As  this  process  continues,  the  logical  re- 
sult must  follow — the  distinction  between  home  and 
foreign  missionaries  will  cease  to  exist. 

Need  o£  Young  Business  Men.     What  w^e  have 


202       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

just  said  refers  to  teachers,  but  it  is  equally  true 
of  young  business  men  who  may  wish  to  offer  their 
executive  ability  for  use  on  the  foreign  field.  In 
some  missionary  enterprise,  the  layman  with  a  busi- 
ness training  is  more  effective  than  the  ordained 
man  with  a  theological  education.  In  every  print- 
ing or  publishing  house  a  Christian  business  man- 
ager is  essential.  Wherever  industrial  work  on  a 
large  scale  is  undertaken,  a  director,  of  industrial 
or  commercial  experience,  is  required.  Where  there 
are  many  missionaries  at  a  single  station,  often  a 
treasurer  is  required,  skilled  in  accounting  and  in 
economical  management.  As  the  work  grows,  the 
men  whose  main  task  is  preaching  must  be  re- 
lieved by  men  whose  main  task  is  administration. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  Policy  and  Influence.  It  is  at  this 
point  that  the  service  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  has  become  so  effective.  That  Asso- 
ciation has  definitely  chosen  methods  that  were  for- 
merly impossible,  but  are  now  made  necessary  by 
changed  conditions.  It  asks  no  man  to  agree  to 
enter  foreign  service  for  life.  It  appoints  no  man 
to  an  important  foreign  post  until  he  has  been 
tested  by  responsibilities  at  home.  It  does  not  ask 
its  secretary  to  adopt  the  garb  or  mode  of  life 
of  the  natives,  but  expects  him  to  dress  and  live 
like  American  business  men  residing  in  foreign 
lands.  It  lays  peculiar  emphasis  on  self-support, 
and  expects  that  in  each  association  all  expense  of 
maintenance,  except  perhaps  the  secretary's  salary, 
will  be  met  by  native  contributions.     It  has  enlisted 


ARCHERY,    AOYAMA    GAKUIN,    TOKIO,    JAPAN 

GYMNASTIC    DRILL,    NANKING    UNIVERSITY,    NANKING, 
CHINA 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     203 

to  a  remarkable  extent  the  support  of  native  busi- 
ness men,  who  may  not  accept  its  teachings,  but 
cordially  approve  its  physical  and  social  activities. 
Often  the  government  authorities  have  given  the 
land  needed  for  a  new  building.  In  China 
there  is  no  Christian  organization  that  is  more  in- 
fluential to-day  than  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  In  selecting  teachers  for  government 
colleges  the  authorities  often  ask  for  suggestions 
from  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and 
sometimes  the  teachers  for  government  schools  are 
actually  selected  at  the  Association  headquarters  in 
New  York  City. 

A  Special  Method.  The  Association  has  defined 
itself  as  a  method  rather  than  an  independent  mis- 
sion, and  has  thus  secured  the  cooperation  of  the 
missionary  boards  on  the  one  hand  and  of  the  na- 
tives on  the  other.  Large  gifts  have  been  made 
to  its  treasury  by  Sun  Yat-sen,  Tang  Shao-i,  Yuan 
Shi-kai,  and  many  other  Chinese  officials.  "  Among 
the  many  forms  of  activity  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  China,"  says  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith,  ''  during  the 
eventful  years  since  the  Boxer  episode  of  1900,  none 
has  proved  so  adaptable  in  the  wide  range  of  its 
working  as,  nor  more  fruitful  in  results  than,  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which  con- 
tinues to  combine  the  vigor  of  perpetual  youth  with 
the  wisdom  of  mature  age.  ...  Its  international 
and  interdenominational  character,  its  constantly 
widening  base-line  of  operations,  its  unique  fitness 
for  dealing  with  sudden  and  serious  emergencies, 


204       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

have  made  it  more  and  more  an  indispensable  factor 
in  the  evolution  of  a  Christian  China."  ^  This 
"factor"  included  in  19 12  foreign  secretaries  to 
the  number  of  seventy-five,  and  Chinese  or  Korean 
secretaries  to  the  number  of  eighty-five.  Three  of 
the  foreign  secretaries  came  as  physical  directors, 
trained  in  America  for  the  upbuilding  of  Chinese 
manhood.  The  very  phrase  ''  physical  director " 
would  have  puzzled  the  founders  of  modern  mis- 
sions. What  w^ould  some  of  the  fathers  have  said 
could  they  have  seen  the  installation  of  shower 
baths  and  lockers  by  missionaries  of  the  cross? 
But  the  simple  fact  is  that  few  men  in  the  modern 
world  have  a  finer  chance  to  touch  the  souls  of 
young  men  than  has  the  physical  director.  To  him 
the  whole  physical  and  moral  life  is  laid  bare,  as 
to  physician  and  pastor  combined. 

Growth  of  Athletic  Sports.  A  very  interesting 
phase  of  the  association  work  has  been  the  devel- 
opment of  athletic  sports.  The  Oriental  has  cared 
nothing  for  outdoor  sports.  In  the  tropics  the  heat 
has  seemed  to  forbid  them.  Even  where  climate 
has  been  temperate,  innate  indolence  has  made  ex- 
ercise wearisome,  as  in  India  and  Siam.  And  where 
there  has  been  no  indolence,  as  in  China,  a  false 
idea  of  dignity  has  prevented  wholesome  athletic 
exercise.  Twenty  years  ago  no  Chinese  young  man 
of  any  standing  could  be  induced  to  lay  aside  his 
blue  gown  or  embroidered  coat,  and  actually  jump 
or  run.  Such  procedure  involved  loss  of  "  face  '* 
'  China  Mission  Year  Book,  1913,  pp.  46,  47- 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     205 

and  complete  sacrifice  of  personal  dignity.  The 
scholar,  above  all  others,  must  move  with  slow  and 
stately  tread,  and  a  cross-country  run  or  a  pole- 
vault  would  have  been  for  him  inconceivable.  But 
now  all  that  has  changed.  The  writer  has  never 
seen  more  eager  athletic  competition  than  among 
college  students  in  central  China.  The  blue  gowns 
were  flung  aside,  the  round  caps  piled  in  a  heap, 
and  amid  the  cheers  of  their  fellow  students  the 
Chinese  boys  showed  an  agility  and  prowess  which 
>vould  have  scandalized  their  fathers. 

Enlisting  the  Government.  The  government  has 
become  keenly  alive  to  the  value  of  this  kind  of 
training.  At  Shanghai  municipal  grants  have  en- 
abled the  Association  to  secure  an  athletic  field  of 
four  acres,  equipped  with  quarter-mile  running 
track,  tennis  courts,  baseball  field,  and  dressing- 
rooms.  Through  the  gift  of  the  provisional  repub- 
lican government  the  Association  at  Nanking  has 
acquired  twenty  acres  which  are  being  fully  equipped 
for  various  forms  of  Western  play.^  The  associa- 
tion buildings  at  Peking,  Tientsin,  Tokyo,  and  Seoul 
are  provided  with  gymnasiums.  The  Shanghai  gym- 
nasium, opened  in  1907,  was  used  by  four  hundred 
and  sixty  Chinese  members  during  the  year  1913, 
and  has  become  a  center  for  the  training  of  physical 
directors  for  other  Chinese  Associations.  The  two 
forms  of  physical  training  well  known  in  Europe — 
indoor  gymnastics,  developed  in  Germany  and 
Sweden,  and  outdoor  sports,  developed  in  England 

*  China  Mission  Year  Book,  1913,  p.  339. 


2o6       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

— are  becoming  immensely  popular  in  awakening 
China. 

Wish  to  Acquire  Strength.  What  has  produced 
this  change  of  social  standards  among  Chinese 
young  men  ?  Chiefly  the  desire  to  acquire  strength 
for  the  service  of  their  country.  They  see  that 
the  inert  and  flabby  scholar  of  a  past  generation, 
wearing  elaborate  embroidery  and  memorizing 
Confucius,  is  hopelessly  out  of  date.  They  have 
seen  the  marching  soldiers  of  the  European  powers, 
trained  to  physical  hardihood.  They  have  seen 
the  Englishman  at  cricket,  the  American  at  base- 
ball, and  they  are  conscious  of  as  robust  a  consti- 
tution as  our  own.  They  want  to  become  soldiers, 
and  so  they  are  drilling  in  the  open  fields  around 
every  Chinese  city.  They  want  to  acquire  physical 
alertness  and  endurance,  and  so  they  are  taking 
up  with  the  sports  that  have  changed  the  temper  of 
all  our  Western  schools  and  colleges.  Twenty  years 
ago  at  Boone  University,  in  Wuchang,  there  was 
such  dislike  of  play,  such  devotion  to  study,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  lock  the  doors  of  the  study-room 
from  four  to  six  o'clock  each  day,  in  order  to  force 
the  students  out  upon  the  playground.  Now  the 
eagerness  shown  is  as  great  as  at  the  University 
of  Michigan  or  of  Wisconsin.  In  Burma  the  story 
is  the  same,  and  far  up  the  Irrawady  schoolboys 
may  be  seen  playing  football  or  basketball  with 
energy  and  determination  to  excel.  The  first  Far 
Eastern  Olympic  Meet  was  held  in  Manila  in  Febru- 
ary, 1913,  when  teams  representing  China,  Japan, 


Enlarging  Function  of  the  Missionary     207 

and  the  Philippines  competed.  Eastern  indolence 
at  last  gives  way,  Eastern  inertia  and  pseudo-dignity 
yield  to  the  desire  for  virility  and  swiftness  and 
expertness,  to  be  used  in  the  service  of  one's  na- 
tive land. 

Play  Moralized  and  Christianized.  It  means 
much  to  have  the  sports  of  a  nation  start  under 
Christian  auspices.  Here  in  America  our  games 
have  often  started  under  distinctly  antichristian  in- 
fluence, and  have  only  by  painful  struggles  been 
redeemed.  Often  they  have  been  surrounded  by 
betting,  gambling,  drinking,  and  the  Church  has 
frowned  upon  sports,  not  because  of  intrinsic,  but 
because  of  collateral,  evils.  But  in  the  Orient  these 
outdoor  contests  have  been  organized  by  Christian 
schools  and  colleges  and  associations,  which  regu- 
larly offer  Christianized  play  to  all  their  members. 
That  fear  of  games  which  marked  our  Puritan  fa- 
thers in  England  and  America — and  not  without 
reason — may  never  be  known  among  peoples  taught 
to  play  by  the  Christian  secretary  and  the  Christian 
teacher. 

Both  Work  and  Play  Carry  the  Christian  Ideal. 
Thus  both  work  and  play — each  essential  to  a  ro- 
bust and  achieving  personality — are  now  being 
taught  on  the  foreign  field  by  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary. He  is  no  anemic  or  ascetic  figure  on  a 
"  coral  strand."  He  is  teaching  men  to  use  the 
plow,  the  ax,  the  scythe,  the  loom,  the  press,  in 
the  creation  of  a  new  civilization,  and  he  is  teaching 
them  the  uses  of  Indian  clubs  and  pulley-weights. 


2o8       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

and  tennis  racquets  and  footballs,  in  developing  a 
clean  and  vigorous  manhood.  And  alike  through 
work  and  play  he  is  teaching  that  kind  of  coopera- 
tion, that  ''team  work,"  out  of  which  homes, 
schools,  and  all  Christian  institutions  must  inev- 
itably grow.  In  his  picture  of  the  completed  king- 
dom of  God  he  sees  with  the  Old  Testament 
prophet  a  city  that  '*  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls 
playing  in  the  streets  thereof."  And  he  also  sees 
a  city  filled  with  harmonious  cooperative  toil — "  his 
servants  shall  serve  him  day  and  night."  A  mis- 
sionary is  a  man  who  has  dedicated  any  sort  of 
human  ability — athletic  or  linguistic,  oratorical  or 
dramatic  or  musical,  mechanical  or  agricultural — to 
the  supreme  task  of  making  that  prophetic  vision 
come  true. 


GREAT  FOUNDERS  AND  THEIR 
IDEALS 


Say   not    the    struggle   naught   availeth, 

The  labor  and  the  wounds  are  vain, 
The   enemy    faints    not    nor   faileth, 

And  as  things  have  been,  they  remain. 

For  while   the   tired   waves,   vainly   breaking, 

Seem   scarce  one   painful   inch   to    gain, 
Far  back,   through  creeks  and  inlets  making. 

Comes    silent,    flooding  in,    the   main. 

— Arthur    Hugh    C lough. 

Not  once  or  twice  in  our  fair  island   story 

The  path  of  duty  was  the  way  to  glory. 

He    that,    ever    following    her    commands, 

On,  with  toil  of  heart  and  knees  and   hands, 

Through  the  long  gorge  to  the  far  light  has  won 

His    path    upward,    and   prevailed. 

Shall   find  the  toppling  crags   of  duty  scaled 

Are   close    upon    the    shining   table-lands 

To  which  our  God  himself  is  moon  and  sun. 

— Tennyson. 


CHAPTER  VII 
GREAT  FOUNDERS  AND  THEIR  IDEALS 

Diversions  or  Accessories.  Our  discussion  has 
obviously  led  us  straight  up  to  one  of  the  most  far- 
reaching  problems  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  We 
stand  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Are  we  convinced 
that  all  the  educational,  medical,  industrial,  agricul- 
tural, philanthropic  features  of  which  we  have 
spoken  lie  at  the  heart  of  the  great  undertaking,  or 
are  they  mere  impediments  to  the  highest  success? 
AvQ  they  part  and  parcel  of  making  the  King- 
dom come,  or  are  they  diversions,  and  perversions, 
draining  off  the  great  stream  of  spiritual  enthusiasm 
into  secular  channels?  Are  they  weak  attempts  to 
reduce  Christianity  to  its  lowest  terms,  or  are  they 
brave  efforts  to  lift  it  to  its  highest  power?  The 
problem  is  not  one  to  be  concealed  or  glossed  over, 
lest  we  should  quench  enthusiasm  by  its  discussion. 
An  enterprise  that  involves  no  challenging  prob- 
lems, no  clashing  of  ideals,  no  summons  to  think, 
must  be  so  small  that  it  cannot  interest  our  young 
people.  It  is  good  for  them  to  stand  a  while  at  the 
cross-roads  and  consider. 

The  Inclusive  Ideal.  The  two  ideals  may  be 
most  clearly  understood  by  contrast.  Here  is  a 
recent  utterance  of  Dr.  Lewis  Hodous,  vice-presi- 

aii 


212       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

dent  of  the  Foochow  Union  Theological  School: 
''  The  missionaries  and  Chinese  leaders  must  recog- 
nize that  the  school,  the  hospital,  the  Christian 
newspaper,  the  large  number  of  industrial  and 
eleemosynary  institutions  are  expressions  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  are  all  evangelistic  agents,  not  merely 
for  indoctrinating  the  Chinese,  but  for  forming 
within  them  new  habits  and  producing  new  activi- 
ties which  are  fundamentally  Christian.  The  new 
social  gospel  should  rather  enlarge  than  curtail  these 
institutions.  The  new  evangelism  must  learn  to  use 
these  agencies  in  its  work  of  preaching  the  gospel. 
The  fundamental  need  then  is  a  broad  view  of  the 
social  significance  of  the  gospel  which  shall  em- 
brace and  utilize  all  the  Christian  forces.  .  .  .  Not 
only  should  the  equipment  be  improved ;  the  methods 
of  the  Churches  must  be  changed  to  meet  the  present 
crisis.  Religion  should  be  treated  in  a  large  and 
more  vital  way  as  being  related  not  only  to  the 
individual,  but  to  society  and  the  nation.  The 
churches  should  minister  to  the  social  needs  of 
their  neighborhoods.  For  this  purpose  reading- 
rooms  and  social  rooms  are  necessary.  The  church 
should  be  related  to  all  the  Christian  agencies.  It 
should  work  with  the  hospitals  by  following  up  the 
patients  and  bringing  them  into  touch  with  the 
church.  It  should  be  intimately  connected  with 
the  schools  and  keep  in  touch  with  the  boys  and 
girls  and  their  families.  All  these  different  agencies 
should  be  articulated  and  correlated  with  the  church, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  aggrandizing  the  church,  but 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         213 

that  the  church  might  impart  spiritual  power  to 
them  all."  ' 

The  Exclusive  View.  Beside  that  definite  pro- 
gram we  may  place  the  conservative  utterance  of  a 
missionary  of  equal  experience  and  devotion :  "  I 
know  of  no  temptation  that  is  pregnant  with 
greater  evil  to  missions  than  that  connected  with 
this  multiplication  of  what  may  be  called  the  lower 
activities  of  missions.  .  .  .  These  lower  forms  of 
activity  are  exceedingly  absorbing  and  distracting; 
and  when  a  mission  enters  into  them  it  usually 
means,  and  I  would  almost  say,  necessarily  means, 
a  withdrawal  of  time  and  energy  and  of  interest 
from  its  highest  spiritual  work.  .  .  .  While  I  can 
see  reasons  for  taking  up  such  work,  I  know  also 
the  demoralizing  influence  that  so  naturally  and 
easily  follows  it.  A  mission  that  allows  itself  to 
be  secularized  by  giving  too  much  emphasis  to  these 
social  and  civilizing  agencies  becomes  inevitably 
paralyzed  as  a  spiritual  force  in  its  field." - 

Sharply  Contrasted  Conceptions.  It  is  good  to 
have  the  antithesis  so  sharply  defined.  There  are 
plainly  two  kinds  of  effort  possible,  and  two  concep- 
tions of  the  missionary  campaign.  If  we  adopt  the 
first  conception  we  shall  make  character-creation 
in  India  or  Africa  as  various  in  method,  as  broad 
in  horizon,  as  ingenious  in  appliances  as  in  America 
— perhaps  far  more  so.  If  we  adopt  the  second 
conception  we  shall  narrow  our  scope  in  order  to 

'  Bible  Magazine,  December,  1913,  p.  948. 

'John  P.  Jones,  India's  Problem  .-Krishna  or  Christ,  284. 


214       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

conserve  spiritual  intensity ;  we  shall  leave  the  work 
of  civilization  to  other  agencies,  that  the  missionary 
may  be  able  to  focus  his  endeavor  on  the  primary 
task  of  making  disciples,  and  truthfully  say :  ''  This 
one  thing  I  do."  Of  course  there  are  various  types 
of  men,  and  all  cannot  work  in  the  same  way, 
either  at  home  or  abroad.  There  are  diversities  of 
gifts.  But  still  the  question  presses:  What  is  the 
highest  conception  of  our  task — the  theological  or 
the  sociological?  To  deliver  a  new  message  or  to 
create  a  new  society?  To  rescue  or  to  plant?  To 
save  men  or  to  save  man  ? 

Carey  a  Leading  Path-breaker.  Let  us  refresh 
our  recollection  of  some  of  the  great  founders  of 
the  enterprise.  First,  let  us  recall  something  of  the 
motive  and  method  of  one  of  the  greatest  path- 
breakers  of  all  the  centuries, — William  Carey.  No 
life,  since  that  of  the  apostle  Paul,  is  better  worth 
reading.  We  shall  draw  freely  on  the  classic 
biography  by  George  Smith. 

Range  of  His  Boyhood  Interests.  The  year  of 
William  Carey's  birth,  1761,  fell  in  as  dull  a  period 
as  any  known  to  English  history.  Neither  in  the 
humble  folk  around  him  in  Northamptonshire,  nor 
in  the  shoemaker's  trade,  was  there  anything  to  in- 
spire him.  He  was  a  simple-hearted  English  boy, 
so  na'ive  in  manner  and  expression  as  to  furnish  an 
easy  target  for  those  who  later  ridiculed  the  "  con- 
secrated cobbler."  But  the  striking  fact  of  his 
childhood  is  the  extraordinary  range  of  his  interests. 
Some  children  show  capacity  for  language,  some 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         215 

for  science — this  boy  showed  both.  Birds  that  he 
had  captured  stood  in  every  corner  of  the  boy's 
room,  strange  insects  were  stowed  away  and  care- 
fully studied.  He  daily  roamed  the  fields  in  search 
of  specimens,  while  his  uncle  Peter  gave  him  les- 
sons in  botany  and  agriculture.  The  country  round 
him  was  famous  for  its  short-horns  and  its  Leicester 
sheep,  and  these  and  their  habits  he  studied  con- 
stantly. 

Further  Studies  and  His  Great  Vision.  But  in 
the  study  of  language  he  was  still  more  eager,  and 
no  teacher  was  at  hand.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he 
found  a  Latin  grammar  and  memorized  it  from 
beginning  to  end.  Then  in  a  New  Testament  com- 
mentary he  discovered  about  a  dozen  Greek  words, 
which  he  wrote  out  and  treasured — like  the  strange 
insects — until  he  found  a  man  who  could  explain 
them.  Henceforth  he  was  a  student  of  Greek* 
French  he  taught  himself  in  three  weeks,  at  least 
sufficiently  for  reading  purposes.  Then  he  found 
an  old  Dutch  quarto  and  forthwith  began  to  write 
out  the  vocabularies  and  master  the  syntax.  Hebrew 
he  acquired  from  a  neighboring  minister.  Long 
lists  of  words  he  wrote  out  and  went  over  them  con- 
stantly in  his  mind  as  he  trudged  up  hill  and  down, 
carrying  to  town  the  shoes  he  had  made  in  the  little 
shop  that  was  later  known  as  '*  Carey's  College." 
Meanwhile  he  borrowed  books  of  travel  and  ex- 
ploration and  devoured  them  so  steadily  that  other 
boys  called  him  "  Columbus  " — with  a  prescience  of 
which  they  little  dreamed.     Thus  in  shoemaking. 


2i6       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

collecting  specimens,  reading  voyages,  preaching 
(after  his  striking  religious  experience  when 
eighteen  years  of  age),  studying  a  large  paper  map 
on  the  wall  before  his  bench  and  a  leather  globe 
made  with  his  own  hands,  he  spent  his  days  until 
he  "  began  to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age."  Then 
suddenly  he  unfolded  to  the  world  his  vast  vision, 
his  idea,  so  disconcerting  to  complacent  orthodoxy, 
so  big  with  fate  to  the  Oriental  world,  his  plan 
which  places  him  forever  among  the  great  seers  and 
founders  of  all  time. 

Idea  Published.  In  1792,  through  a  friend  who 
gave  him  ten  pounds,  he  published  his  great  "  En- 
quiry into  the  Obligations  of  Christians."  Consid- 
ering its  origin,  it  is  perhaps  the  greatest  missionary 
document  ever  penned.  In  an  admirable  literary 
style,  with  a  pathetic  religious  simplicity,  with  a 
breadth  of  vision  no  English  statesman  of  that  day 
could  surpass,  he  proclaimed  his  new  idea  to  a  be- 
wildered and  indignant  Church.  "  This  shoemaker, 
still  under  thirty,  surveys  the  whole  world,  con- 
tinent by  continent,  island  by  island,  race  by  race, 
faith  by  faith,  kingdom  by  kingdom,  tabulating  his 
results  with  an  accuracy  and  following  them  up 
with  a  logical  power  of  generalization  which  would 
extort  the  admiration  of  the  learned  even  at  the 
present  day."  ^ 

His  Conception  Appeared  Full-grown.  A  great 
work  of  genius  or  a  great  work  of  faith — the  two 
are  never  far  apart — often  does  not  grow,  but  is 
*  George  Smith,  The  Life  of  William  Carey,  24. 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         217 

bom  full-grown,  matured,  athletic.  Its  realization 
indeed  must  grow — slowly,  amid  rebuffs  and  de- 
spairs. But  the  idea  itself,  completely  worked  out, 
appears  at  a  bound,  like  the  morning  sun  leaping 
from  the  horizon  in  the  tropics.  We  may  venture 
to  say  that  there  is  scarcely  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  present  missionary  endeavor  which  Carey 
did  not  anticipate  and  announce,  and  in  most  mission 
fields  we  have  not  yet  caught  up  with  the  greatness 
of  his  ideal.  But  let  us  be  more  specific.  What 
were  his  leading  ideas? 

1.  Strategy.  The  selection  of  strategic  points  for 
religious  propaganda.  He  had  read  of  Captain 
Cook's  voyages  a  few  years  before,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  savage  Tahiti  had  thrilled  Europe.  But 
Carey  turned  from  Tahiti  to  Bengal,  because  of 
Bengal's  enormous  density  of  population,  greater 
than  anywhere  else  on  the  globe,  and  the  fact 
that  the  Hindus  were  the  leading  race  in  Asia, 
through  w^hom  other  Oriental  lands  might  be  deeply 
influenced. 

2.  Home  and  Field  Organization.  He  inspired 
the  organization  of  like-minded  spirits  at  home, 
the  forerunner  of  all  the  great  missionary  societies 
since  established.  He  never  dreamed  of  being  an 
"  independent  "  missionary,  even  when  later  he  was 
in  receipt  of  ample  income.  Always  he  cherished 
the  closest  union  with  what  we  now  call  the  "  home 
base."  But  he  also  drew  up  a  notable  "  form  of 
agreement  "  under  which  he  himself,  with  his  col- 
leagues Marshman  and  Ward  and  their  families, 


2i8       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

lived  most  happily  for  many  years, — the  precurser 
of  all  organizations  on  the  foreign  field  to-day. 

3.  Medical  Work.  He  showed  early  faith  in 
medical  missions.  On  that  first  voyage  he 
took  with  him  the  ^argeon,  John  Thomas,  a  man 
quite  unworthy  of  Carey,  but  nevertheless  the  first 
medical  missionary  in  India.  ''  Brother  Thomas," 
wrote  Carey,  "  has  been  the  instrument  of  saving 
numbers  of  lives.  His  house  is  constantly  sur- 
rounded with  the  afflicted ;  and  the  cures  wrought  by 
him  would  have  gained  any  physician  or  surgeon 
in  Europe  the  most  extensive  reputation.  We  ought 
to  be  furnished  yearly  with  at  least  half  a  hundred 
weight  of  Jesuits'  bark." 

4.  The  Press.  At  the  beginning  he  gave  proof 
of  his  faith  in  the  printing-press.  Before  Carey 
sailed  he  said  to  the  printer  and  editor,  William 
Ward :  ''  If  the  Lord  bless  us,  we  shall  want  a  per- 
son of  your  business  to  enable  us  to  print  the  Scrip- 
tures. I  hope  you  will  come  after  us."  Five  years 
later  Ward  followed,  and  printer  and  preacher 
formed  a  partnership. 

5.  Oneness  with  Natives.  His  insistence  on 
identification  with  the  natives.  Even  with  two  of 
his  four  children  sick,  and  a  wife  whose  melan- 
cholia was  incurable,  he  determined  to  '*  build  a  hut 
and  live  like  the  natives."  When  famous  all  over 
the  world,  when  copies  of  his  portrait  were  selling 
in  England  at  a  guinea  apiece,  he  still  lived  in  daily 
intimate  contact  "  with  the  natives." 

6.  Self-support    and    Self-propagation.     He    ad- 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         219 

vocated  entire  self-support  for  the  mission  after  the 
first  critical  period  had  passed.  *'  It  is  useful,"  he 
said,  ^'  to  carry  on  some  worldly  business."  When 
his  first  means  were  quite  exhausted,  he  was  put 
in  charge  of  an  indigo  factory  at  a  salary  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year.  Then  the  very 
government  which  had  opposed  his  coming  and  still 
washed  him  away  was  forced  to  engage  him  to  teach 
Bengali  at  Fort  William  College,  since  no  other 
linguist  of  equal  ability  could  be  found.  Thus  he 
found  himself  in  possession  of  a  surplus,  which  he 
turned  into  the  mission.  During  thirty-four  years 
he  spent  on  the  mission  about  $225,000.  And  with 
self-support  he  associated  self-propagation.  After 
he  baptized  his  first  convert,  Krishna  Pal,  he  made 
him  a  street  preacher  in  Calcutta.  "  We  are  also 
to  hope  that  God  may  raise  up  some  missionaries  in 
this  country,  who  may  be  more  -fitted  for  the  work 
than  any  from  England  can  be/' 

7.  Industrial  and  Commercial  Factor.  He  under- 
took with  full  confidence  the  business  of  publishing. 
When  he  first  set  up  the  press  the  natives  thought 
it  the  "  Englishman's  idol,"  but  they  met  a  much 
greater  marvel  when  he  set  up  a  steam-engine  and 
"  the  engine  went  in  reality  this  day."  Soon  he 
was  publishing  a  monthly,  as  well  as  a  "  penny 
magazine  "  and  a  "  Saturday  magazine."  The  first 
newspaper  the  missionaries  began  to  publish  in  1818. 
That  press  trained  many  natives  in  a  most  useful 
art  and  in  sound  industrial  and  commercial  methods. 

8.  Scripture  Translation.     He  was  unequaled  in 


220       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

his  mastery  of  languages  and  in  tireless  labor  as  a 
translator.  Here  the  facts  and  figures  are  almost 
incredible.  For  seven  years  he  gave  one  third  of 
each  long  v^orking  day  to  the  study  of  Sanskrit. 
Any  other  task  he  could  leave  at  call,  but  his  daily 
Sanskrit  lesson  was  never  omitted.  From  that  press 
in  Serampur  Carey  and  his  colleagues  sent  out  the 
complete  Bible  in  six  different  languages  and  the 
New  Testament  in  twenty-two  more — twenty-eight 
versions  of  the  Scriptures  in  all.  Parts  of  the  Bible 
they  sent  out  in  a  dozen  other  languages.  About 
three  hundred  million  human  beings,  from  Peking 
through  India  and  down  to  Singapore,  received  the 
Bible  or  parts  of  it  in  their  own  tongue  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  labors  of  the  Serampur  missionaries. 
Can  words  describe  an  achievement  like  that? 

g.  Educational  Work.  He  insisted  on  educa- 
tion as  indispensable.  In  every  station  he  planned 
for  a  *'  free  school,''  and  in  all  of  them  he  used  the 
vernacular.  Before  1818  the  missionaries  had 
founded  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  schools,  con- 
taining ten  thousand  boys,  while  Mrs.  Marshman 
had  opened  a  school  for  girls.  Every  teacher  Carey 
insisted  "  should  be  more  than  a  superintendent  of 
schools — he  should  be  a  spiritual  instructor." 

10.  Interest  in  Science.  He  had  an  enduring  in- 
terest in  every  branch  of  natural  science.  Instead  of 
fearing  science,  as  so  many  of  his  successors  have 
done,  as  something  alien  to  faith,  he  made  it  one 
great  joy  of  his  life  and  the  close  ally  of  the  mis- 
sion.    His  Botanical  Garden  expanded  until  it  cov- 


AMERICAN    DECCAN    INSTITUTE,    AHAIEDNAGAR,    INDIA 
A  fully  developed  trade  school  subsidized  by  the  Indian  government 


INDUSTRIAL    SCHOOL,    JORBAT,    ASSAM 
High   school  with  industrial  training 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         221 

ered  five  acres.  There  grew  in  profusion  the 
mahogany,  the  eucalyptus,  the  teak  and  the  tamar- 
ind, and  the  finest  shade-trees  of  the  East  bent  over 
*'  Carey's  walk."  Foresters  from  many  lands  have 
studied  Carey's  trees  and  tested  their  rate  of 
growth.  Amid  the  rare  and  brilliant  flowers  of 
that  garden  the  missionary  wrote  and  prayed.  One 
entry  in  his  journal  reads :  "  23rd  September,  Lord's 
Day. — Arose  about  sunrise,  and,  according  to  my 
usual  practise,  walked  into  my  garden  for  medita- 
tion and  prayer  till  the  servants  came  to  family 
worship." 

Range  of  Investigations.  In  many  of  his  letters 
he  begs  friends  to  send  him  plants  or  curious  insects. 
*'  You  may  always  enclose  a  pinch  of  seeds  in  a 
letter."  To  his  son,  William,  he  writes  eagerly: 
*'  Can  you  not  get  me  a  male  and  female  Khokora — 
I  mean  the  great  bird  like  a  kite,  which  makes  so 
great  a  noise,  and  often  carries  off  a  duck  or  a  kid? 
I  believe  it  is  an  eagle  and  want  to  examine  it.  Send 
me  also  all  sorts  of  duck  and  waterfowls  you  can 
get,  and  in  short  every  sort  of  bird  you  can  obtain 
which  is  not  common  here.  Send  me  their  Bengali 
names.  .  .  .  Spare  no  pains  to  get  me  seeds  and 
roots."  Later  he  writes  to  a  friend :  ''  To  you 
I  shall  write  some  account  of  the  arts,  utensils,  and 
manufactures  of  the  country;  to  brother  Sutliff  their 
mythology  and  religion;  to  brother  Ryland  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  inhabitants;  to  brother 
Fuller  the  productions  of  the  country;  to  brother 
Pearce  the  language,   etc. ;  and  to  the   Society  a 


222       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

joint  account  of  the  mission."  All  these  varied  in- 
terests, instead  of  conflicting  with  one  another  in 
Carey's  mind,  played  into  one  another's  hands,  and 
enriched  and  ennobled  his  far-reaching  work. 

Improvement  of  Fruits.  In  1794  he  sends  home 
for  *'  some  instruments  of  husbandry."  His  letters 
on  the  fruits  of  India  fully  describe  the  mango,  the 
guava,  the  custard-apple,  the  pomegranate,  the 
papaw,  the  coconut,  the  citron,  and  the  lime.  "  Of 
many  of  these,  and  the  foreign  fruits  which  he 
introduced,  it  might  be  said  he  found  them  poor 
and  he  cultivated  them  until  he  left  succeeding  gen- 
erations a  rich  and  varied  orchard."  It  is  quite 
certain  that  if  Carey  were  living  to-day  he  would 
be  in  active  correspondence  with  Luther  Burbank. 

Mark  in  Agriculture  and  Horticulture.  When  Dr. 
Roxburgh,  of  the  government  Botanical  Garden 
died,  Carey,  then  in  advanced  age,  printed  the 
botanist's  great  work,  Flora  Indica,  in  four  large 
volumes,  placing  on  the  title-page  the  sentence :  "  All 
thy  works  praise  thee,  O  Lord — David."  In  the 
Transactions  of  the  Bengal  Asiatic  Society,  of 
which  Carey  was  an  eminent  member,  he  energeti- 
cally discussed  the  necessity  of  agricultural  reforms 
in  India.  Crops  and  soils  and  utensils  and  fertiliz- 
ers, modes  of  plowing  and  reaping,  are  all  described 
with  the  skill  of  an  expert,  and  illustrated  by  draw- 
ings carefully  drawn  to  scale.  Scores  of  native 
plants  are  set  forth,  the  cultivation  of  vegetables  and 
the  best  methods  of  forestry  are  all  carefully  re- 
viewed.   Finally,  after  corresponding  with  botanists 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         223 

in  all  parts  of  the  world,  Carey  formed  the  "  Agri- 
cultural and  Horticultural  Society  in  India,"  long 
before  there  was  any  similar  society  in  Great  Britain. 
Had  William  Carey  done  nothing  more  than  render 
his  distinguished  service  in  the  realms  of  botany 
and  agriculture,  his  title  to  fame  would  be  secure. 

II.  Ever-enlarging  Horizon.  His  ever-enlarging 
horizon  embraced  India,  and  far  beyond  it.  He 
fought  the  slave-trade  throughout  his  life.  He  ad- 
dressed memorials  to  the  government  on  the  evils  of 
infanticide,  of  voluntary  drowning  by  fanatics,  of 
the  self-immolation  of  widows.  But  far  beyond  the 
needs  of  India  his  vision  penetrated  and  his  heart 
went  forth.  "  The  state  of  the  world,"  he  writes, 
*'  has  occupied  my  thoughts  more  and  more.  .  .  . 
A  mission  to  Siam  would  be  comparatively  easy  of 
introduction.  ...  A  mission  to  Pegu  and  another 
to  Arakan  would  not  be  difficult.  ...  I  have  not 
mentioned  Sumatra,  Java,  the  Moluccas,  the  Philip- 
pines, or  Japan,  but  all  these  countries  must  he  sup- 
plied with  missionaries.  .  .  .  Africa  and  South 
America  call  as  loudly  for  help  and  the  greatest  part 
of  Europe  must  also  be  holpen  by  the  Protestant 
Churches." 

Notable  Transition  in  History.  For  prophetic 
vision,  for  range  of  study,  for  audacious  initiative, 
inexhaustible  curiosity,  and  indefatigable  toil,  has 
the  record  of  this  man's  life  been  surpassed?  When 
we  consider  the  cobbler's  shop  whence  he  came, 
the  early  rejection  of  his  idea  by  nearly  all  the 
Churches,    and    the    final    acceptance    of    his    idea 


224       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

throughout  Christendom,  we  find  ourselves  facing 
one  of  the  notable  transitions  of  modern  history. 

Represents  a  Healthy  Attitude.  One  of  the 
salient  facts  in  Carey's  life  is  that  this  servant  of 
Christ,  whose  humility  and  piety  and  utter  devotion 
are  unquestioned,  never  seemed  to  feel  for  a  mo- 
ment that  his  Christian  message  was  imperiled  by 
his  linguistic  or  scientific  study.  Nowhere  does  he 
intimate  that  botany  and  exegesis  are  at  war,  that 
sermonizing  and  irrigation  are  incompatible,  or  that 
planting  a  garden  interfered  with  time  for  prayer. 
"  All  thy  works  shall  praise  thee  "  might  well  be 
counted  the  motto  of  his  life.  Is  it  not  our  littleness 
of  soul  that  makes  us  believe  that  no  man  can  be 
both  machinist  and  evangelist,  that  no  man  can  be- 
come both  farmer  and  teacher,  and  that  only  when 
the  missionary  is  relieved  from  material  cares  can 
he  have  the  vision  of  God?  If  each  of  us  could 
have  Carey's  varied  intellectual  interests,  would  they 
not  save  us  from  morbid  introspection,  from  brood- 
ing over  slights  or  failures,  from  falling  into  the 
ruts  of  godliness?  Would  it  not  have  been  well  for 
even  David  Brainerd  and  Adoniram  Judson  if  they 
too  had  been  masters  of  soil-culture  and  devotees  of 
science?  *'  To  every  man  his  work  "  is  indeed  the 
divine  order.  The  universal  genius  is  impossible. 
But  Carey  has  forever  demonstrated  that  the  nar- 
row view  of  the  missionary's  place  and  function  is 
not  necessary,  is  not  the  highest  view,  and  that 
breadth  of  apprehension  may  coexist  with  intensity 
of  conviction  in  every  prophet  of  the  faith. 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         225 

Policy  Extended  by  Duff.  William  Carey's  life- 
work  was  continued  and  expanded  in  the  memorable 
career  of  the  Scotch  pioneer  Alexander  Duff.  When 
he  landed  in  Calcutta  in  1830,  there  was  a  general 
belief  among  government  officials  that  the  education 
of  the  natives  was  dangerous,  and  that  in  any  case 
there  must  be  no  interference  with  religious  beliefs. 
The  few  missionaries  already  in  Calcutta  were 
strongly  opposed  to  the  use  of  English  in  mission 
schools.  But  Dr.  Duff  arrived  with  two  convictions 
on  v/hich  his  whole  subsequent  career  was  based. 
The  first  was  that  only  through  education  of  the 
natives  could  any  permanent  change  be  made  in 
the  Indian  character,  and  that  such  education  must 
include  constant  instruction  in  the  Christian  religion. 
The  second  was  that  the  proper  vehicle  of  instruc- 
tion was  not  a  language  saturated  with  idolatry, 
but  the  English  tongue,  colored  and  shaped  by  five 
centuries  of  Christian  history.  Discouraged  in  his 
ambition  by  all  the  other  missionaries.  Dr.  Duff 
could  not  rest  till  he  had  seen  William  Carey,  then 
nearing  the  sunset  of  life.  The  meeting  of  the 
veteran  and  the  young  recruit  was  most  affecting, 
and  Carey  gave  his  benediction  to  the  new  mis- 
sionary and  the  new  policy.  That  policy  was  to 
destroy  an  ancient  system  of  life,  based  on  a  re- 
markable literature,  by  introducing  the  Hindus  to 
a  Western  language  and  literature  and  a  Western 
science  under  whose  influence  their  own  religious 
and  social  structure  must  crumble.  "  In  this  way/* 
said  Dr.  Duff,  when  addressing  the  people  of  Scot- 


226       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

land  ten  years  later,  "  we  thought  not  of  individuals 
merely;  we  looked  to  the  masses.  Spurning  the 
notion  of  a  present  day's  success,  and  a  present 
year's  wonder,  we  directed  our  view  not  merely  to 
the  present,  but  to  future  generations."  ^ 

Adopted  by  the  Indian  Government.  The  first 
examination  held  in  Dr.  Duff's  school  in  Calcutta 
and  attended  by  many  government  officials  gave 
striking  proof  of  the  soundness  of  his  policy.  Soon 
Thomas  B.  (later,  Lord)  Macaulay  was  won  over 
to  Dr.  Duff's  view,  and  through  his  powerful  ad- 
vocacy the  British  government  issued  its  famous 
decree  of  1835,  establishing  the  English  language 
as  the  medium  of  instruction  in  Indian  schools  and 
colleges.  Thus  the  idea  of  one  isolated  missionary 
became  the  policy  of  the  Indian  empire.  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan  has  epitomized  Duff's  conception: 
"  There  was  a  general  demand  for  education  and 
he  proposed  to  meet  it  by  giving  religious  educa- 
tion. Up  to  that  time  preaching  had  been  considered 
the  orthodox  regular  mode  of  missionary  action, 
but  Dr.  Duff  held  that  the  receptive  plastic  minds 
of  children  might  be  molded  from  the  first  according 
to  the  Christian  system,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
heathen  teaching,  and  that  the  best  preaching  to 
the  rising  generation,  which  soon  becomes  the 
entire  people,  is  the  '  precept  upon  precept,  line 
upon  line,  here  a  little,  there  a  little  '  of  the  school- 
room.  .    .    .  These  were  great  and  pregnant  re- 

*  George  Smith,  The  Life  of  Alexander  Duff,  108. 


ALEXANDER    DUFF 

We   directed   our  view   not  merely   to   the  present   but  to   future 
generations  " 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         227 

forms,  which  must  always  give  Dr.  Duff  a  high 
place  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind."  ^ 

Secular  Agencies  Made  Sacred.  Long  after  the 
college  which  Dr.  Duff  founded  had  succeeded  be- 
yond his  dreams,  he  continued  to  expound  in  India 
and  in  Scotland  his  theory  of  educational  missions. 
Accused  of  mere  secularism,  of  filling  natives  with 
conceit,  and  accused,  on  the  other  hand,  of  inter- 
fering with  native  religions  and  so  embarrassing  the 
government,  he  kept  his  hand  on  the  plow  and  made 
a  straight  furrow.  Western  literature  and  West- 
ern science  he  made  available  to  the  finest  youths  of 
Bengal,  but  never  for  a  moment  did  he  condone 
religious  neutrality.  **  There  ought  to  be,"  he  said, 
**  no  secular  department.  In  other  words,  in  teach- 
ing any  branch  of  literature  or  science,  a  spiritually- 
minded  man  must  see  it  so  taught  as  not  only  to 
prove  subservient  to  a  general  design,  but  to  be  more 
or  less  saturated  with  religious  sentiment,  or  re- 
flection, or  deduction,  or  application." 

A  Later  Reaction.  Such  were  the  ideals  of  the 
great  founders  of  the  Indian  missions,  William 
Carey  and  Alexander  Duff.  Have  we  lived  up  to 
them  ?  Or  have  we  declined  from  them  into  smaller 
horizons  and  more  transient  aims  ?  About  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century  some  American 
leaders  of  the  enterprise  swerved  from  the  purpose 
of  the  great  pioneers,  and  advocated  a  more  re- 
stricted type  of  endeavor.  The  churches  at  home 
experienced  a  reaction  from  the  broad  and  inclusive 
^George  Smith,  The  Life  of  Alexander  Duff,  196. 


228       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

ideals  of  the  founders,  a  reaction  from  which  they 
are  just  recovering  to-day.  Sixty  years  ago  there 
swept  over  America  what  the  Edinburgh  Confer- 
ence of  1910  called  one  of  "  those  wars  of  anti- 
educational  sentiment  which  have  in  times  past 
checked  or  undone  the  educational  work  of  mis- 
sions." In  1853  American  Baptists  were  among  the 
foremost  of  the  churches  in  missionary  zeal.  Out 
of  that  zeal,  combined  with  constant  world-wide 
study,  came  the  resolve  to  continue  and  reenforce 
the  work  abroad,  and  at  the  same  time  to  send  a 
deputation  to  study  on  the  foreign  field  the  whole 
question  of  legitimate  missionary  methods.  The 
result  was  a  report  which  amounted  to  a  practical 
reversal  of  some  of  the  ideals  of  the  founders,  and 
which  administered  a  heavy  blow  to  many  of  the 
young  men  who  saw  visions  and  the  old  men  who 
dreamed  dreams.  The  results  may  best  be  described 
by  a  missionary  secretary,  Dr.  Fred  P.  Haggard : 

Alleged  Principles.  ''  The  report  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  on  the  work  of  the  deputation  is  a 
remarkable  document  and  naturally  aroused  con- 
siderable discussion.  I  shall  refer  to  one  item  only 
as  illustrating  the  great  change  which  has  taken 
place  in  one  department  of  the  work.  The  executive 
committee  said :  '  The  two  elementary  principles 
which  seem  to  have  had  decisive  control  over  them 
[the  deputation]  were,  first,  that  '  schools  are  not  a 
wise  or  Scripturally-appointed  agency  for  propagat- 
ing Christianity  among  a  heathen  people — that  they 
are  not   the  Scriptural   mode   of   evangelization'; 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         22(^ 

secondly,  that  '  whatever  be  their  value,  it  is  subor- 
dinate to  that  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  adult 
population;  that  they  are  in  no  respect  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  substitute  for,  or  a  mode  of  preaching; 
and  that  the  measure  of  demand  for  them  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  success  which  attends  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel.'  " 

Idea  Given  Extended  Effect.  "  At  the  same 
meeting  of  the  Society  Francis  Wayland  presented 
his  famous  report  on  '  The  Relative  Proportion  of 
Time  Given  by  our  Missionaries  to  Teaching, 
Translating,  and  Other  Occupations,  Aside  from 
Preaching  the  Gospel,'  the  gist  of  this  document 
being  that,  while  it  might  under  certain  very  clear 
circumstances  be  proper  for  a  missionary  to  indulge 
in  any  of  the  first-mentioned  exercises,  he  must  re- 
member that  his  chief  business  is  to  preach.  Schools 
are  all  right  in  their  place,  but  they  ought  never  to 
be  thought  of  or  used  as  a  mode  of  evangelism. 
That  doctrine,  enunciated  by  such  men,  and  in- 
culcated through  many  decades  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  has  brought  us  .  .  .  face  to  face  with  the 
most  stupendous  problem  we  have  ever  been  called 
to  consider."  ^ 

Reaction  in  American  Board.  The  same  reaction 
against  the  use  of  educational  methods  in  India  was 
experienced  in  the  constituency  of  the  American 
Board.  Certain  mistakes  had  been  made.  Some 
schools  in  India  and  Ceylon  were  manned  largely 
by  non-Christian  teachers  and  the  atmosphere  was 

*  The  Standard,  December  6,   1913. 


230       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

at  least  neutral.  The  graduates  were  disappointing. 
The  American  supporters  of  the  work  began  to 
question  the  value  of  education  as  an  evangelistic 
agency.  Some  were  ready  to  abandon  the  schools  at 
once,  and  return  to  itinerant  preaching  as  the  only 
Scriptural  method.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Board  in  1854  the  Prudential  Committee 
reported :  **  Neither  the  schoolhouse,  nor  the  college, 
nor  an  improved  literature,  nor  the  scientific  lecture- 
room,  are  among  the  means  ordained  of  God  for  the 
regeneration  of  the  human  soul."  ^  It  was  de- 
termined to  send  a  deputation  to  the  foreign  field  to 
investigate  current  methods  and  report  on  the 
proper  policy.  The  report  of  that  deputation,  pre- 
sented in  1856,  aroused  eager  debate  and  led  to  an 
extremely  conservative  attitude  toward  all  educa- 
tional enterprise.  The  American  Board  adopted  an 
"  Outline  of  Missionary  Policy  "  which  sounds  curi- 
ously antiquated  to-day : 

Policy  Formulated.  "  The  experience  of  Mis- 
sionary Societies  thus  far  has  shown  that  the  school 
and  the  press  are  most  likely  to  exceed  their  proper 
limits.  .  .  .  The  inquiry  should  often  come  up: 
Are  the  schools  and  the  press,  in  our  operations, 
properly  subordinated  to  our  grand  aim?  It  is 
found  that  printing  establishments  need  to  be  care- 
fully watched.  They  are  sometimes  necessary;  still 
they  are  pretty  sure  to  give  the  making  of  books  a 
special  prominence.  .  .  .  Education  and  the  press 
can  never  successfully  take  the  place  of  preaching. 
^  Report  of  the  American  Board,   1854. 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         231 

They  should  not  stand  before  it  in  point  of  time, 
or  generally  be  employed  as  a  preparative  to  its  re- 
ception. Nothing  could  more  directly  contravene 
the  established  methods  of  grace."  ^ 

Clearer  Present  Light.  That  schools  and  books 
can  never  be  a  substitute  for  preaching  v^e  should 
all  agree;  but  that  they  are  never  ''a  preparative 
to  its  reception  "  is  a  declaration  to  which  fev^  would 
now  subscribe.  But  the  acceptance  of  this  policy 
caused  the  closing  of  many  English  schools  in  India 
and  Ceylon.  It  was  openly  declared  that  mathe- 
matics and  the  higher  studies  should  not  be  sup- 
ported by  missionary  contributions,  and  that  the 
gospel  was  able  to  do  without  these  "  secular  "  aids. 
The  natural  result  appeared  twenty  years  later,  in 
a  dearth  of  native  leaders,  in  churches  destitute  of 
trained  pastors  and  teachers.  Gradually  and  pain- 
fully the  schools  were  reopened — perhaps  with 
greater  wisdom  gained  by  hard  experience.  To-day 
those  very  stations  are  constantly  emphasizing  the 
absolute  necessity  of  the  Christian  school,  and  the 
value  of  all  studies  that  banish  ignorance  and  suf- 
fering. The  Syrian  Protestant  College  at  Beirut 
was  founded  by  the  same  American  Board  whose 
declaration,  made  in  1856,  we  have  just  quoted. 
It  is  therefore  interesting  to  note  one  paragraph  in 
the  annual  report  ( 1913)  of  the  president  of  the  col- 
lege, Dr.  Howard  S.  Bliss : 

Many  Agencies  with  One  Aim.  '^  Among  build- 
ing operations  there  should  be  included  the  fitting 
^  Report  of  the  American  Board,  1856. 


232       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

up  of  Dr.  Post's  former  residence  for  the  use  of 
the  Dental  School,  making  an  admirably  equipped 
establishment.  The  series  of  rooms  in  the  so- 
called  Mill  Building,  vacated  by  the  Dental  School, 
have  been  assigned  to  the  clinics  of  diseases  of 
the  eye  and  ear,  diseases  of  women,  and  diseases 
of  children.  The  new  X-ray  apparatus  will  be 
housed  in  rooms  in  this  building,  and  the  Electro- 
therapeutic  clinics  will  be  held  there.  .  .  .  The 
lower  story  of  the  house  might  be  advantageously 
utilized  in  connection  with  the  growing  athletic 
activities  of  the  institution.  For  these  activities  are 
being  constantly  developed  under  the  firm  convic- 
tion that,  when  under  proper  regulations  they 
are  kept  subordinate  to  the  higher  purpose  of  the 
college,  they  become  powerful  agencies  in  promot- 
ing those  very  interests."  ^ 

Example  of  Livingstone.  If  we  turn  now  to 
Africa,  it  will  be  universally  conceded  that  the 
greatest  founder  of  African  missions  was  David 
Livingstone.  Never  has  Great  Britain  been  more 
profoundly  stirred  at  the  burial  of  one  of  her  sons 
than  when  Livingstone's  body,  carried  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles  over  African  trails  by  his  devoted  serv- 
ants Susi  and  Chuma,  was  entombed  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  He  evoked  the  admiration  of  all  sections  of 
British  life,  because  he  touched  all  that  was  human 
in  African  life.  When  as  a  young  man  he  reached 
Kuruman,  in  South  Africa,  he  might  easily  have 
settled  down  into  the  position  of  docile  attache  of 
^Forty-seventh  Annual  Report,  7. 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         233 

the  existing  mission.  Something  within  urged  him 
to  roam,  to  explore,  to  attempt  the  problem,  not  of 
a  single  station,  but  of  a  continent.  It  is  no  secret 
that  this  impulse  brought  him  into  difficulty  with 
his  supporters  at  home.  Was  he  not  engaging 
in  ''  secular  "  work,  when  he  had  been  sent  out  on  a 
spiritual  mission  ?  Was  he  not  attacking  extraneous 
and  irrelevant  problems,  which  were  better  left  to 
the  geographer,  the  naturalist,  and  the  government 
official?  But  when,  after  ten  years  in  Africa,  he 
saw  eight  native  boys  exchanged  for  eight  muskets, 
his  life-purpose  suddenly  expanded.  When,  later, 
the  paddle-wheels  of  his  steamboat  on  the  Zambezi 
were  entirely  clogged  with  the  corpses  of  slaves  that 
had  floated  down  in  the  night,  that  purpose  became 
an  irresistible  passion.  No  amount  of  preaching 
in  a  single  station  on  the  coast  could  accomplish 
much,  so  long  as  a  continuous  flood  of  iniquity  and 
suffering  poured  down  from  the  interior.  Defying 
the  Portuguese  government  which  blocked  his  path 
at  every  step,  defying  the  Boers,  who  knew  he  was 
undermining  their  power,  defying  British  opinion 
which  would  limit  the  scope  of  his  endeavor,  he  de- 
clared ''  the  end  of  the  geographical  feat  is  only 
the  beginning  of  the  missionary  enterprise,"  and 
started  out  on  his  world-changing  geographical  feat. 
To  be  ignorant  of  Livingstone's  life  is  to  misunder- 
stand the  story  of  Great  Britain,  Belgium,  Ger- 
many, Portugal,  France,  Egypt,  and  America  dur- 
ing the  last  seventy-five  years. 

Is  He  Exceptional?     But  it  may  be  said,  and 


234       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

justly,  that  Livingstone  was  an  exceptional  man, 
called  to  an  exceptional  work,  furnishing  no  safe 
model  for  all  others.  It  may  even  be  affirmed  that 
his  irresistible  impulse  to  roam,  his  habit  of  "  think- 
ing in  continents,"  made  the  intensive  work  of  a 
single  station  impossible  for  him,  and  that  the  or- 
dinary worker  had  better  limit  his  vision  to  a  single 
task.  We  put  blinders  on  the  horses  because  we 
want  them  to  go  straight  forward  and  not  be  taking 
broad  views  of  things. 

James  Stewart  as  a  Type.  Let  us,  then,  look  at 
the  life  of  one  of  Livingstone's  successors,  Dr. 
James  Stewart  of  Lovedale,  who  received  his  com- 
mission directly  from  Livingstone's  lips,  but  was 
himself  called  to  a  local  and  intensive  kind  of  labor. 
His  biography,  by  James  Wells,  is  more  fascinat- 
ing than  any  work  of  fiction.^  His  life-purpose, 
like  Carey's,  blossomed  early.  When  a  boy,  carry- 
ing a  gun  over  his  shoulder,  he  suddenly  cried  out 
to  his  cousin :  "  Jim,  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  till 
I  am  in  Africa,  with  a  Bible  in  my  pocket  and  a 
rifle  on  my  shoulder  to  supply  my  wants."  His 
father's  financial  losses  forced  him  into  three  or 
four  years  of  valuable  business  experience,  and  he 
was  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  reached  the  Uni- 
versity. There  his  stature, — he  stood  six  feet,  two 
inches — his  swift  swinging  gait,  and  his  devotion 
to  chemistry,  botany,  and  agriculture  were  noted 
by  all  who  met  him.  Even  then  he  was  hardy, 
athletic,    forceful,    "  sometimes    overmasterful,"    a 

*  From  that  life  many  of  the  facts  which  follow  are  taken. 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         235 

natural  leader, — the  type  of  young  man  Cecil 
Rhodes  has  described  in  his  specifications  for  the 
Rhodes  scholars  at  Oxford.  He  began  the  study 
of  medicine,  which  he  resumed  after  his  first  visit 
to  Africa,  and  also  took  a  thorough  course  at  the 
Divinity  School  of  Edinburgh  University. 

Inspired  by  Livingstone's  Achievements.  Then 
he  read  the  newly  published  volume  of  Livingstone's 
Travels  and  Researches  in  South  Africa,  and,  not 
content  with  a  vague  inspiration,  he  tabulated  the 
contents.  Chapter  I  in  his  note-book  he  headed 
'''  Dr.  Livingstone  as  a  botanist,"  and  then  in  other 
chapters  he  discussed  the  great  missionary  "  as  a  zo- 
ologist, a  geologist,  a  medical  man,  an  explorer,  a 
missionary,  and  a  Christian."  Such  a  mighty  en- 
thusiasm was  communicated  to  him  through  that 
single  volume  that  he  could  talk  of  nothing  but 
Africa,  and  henceforth  was  known  to  his  com- 
panions as  "  Stewart  Africanus."  When  at  last 
in  1 86 1,  he  sailed  for  the  Dark  Continent,  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingstone went  with  him  to  rejoin  her  husband,  and 
Stewart's  supreme  ambition  was  to  crown  Living- 
stone's work  by  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
interior  mission. 

Civilizer  as  Well  as  Preacher.  The  impressive 
thing  about  "  Stewart  of  Lovedale,"  as  about  Liv- 
ingstone, is  that  before  either  of  them  left  Scotland 
— there  is  an  affinity  between  Scotch  blood  and 
heroic  faith — his  great  idea  was  full  grown.  "  We 
were  going,"  he  says,  ''as  civilizers  as  well  as 
preachers,    and    we   took    Scotch    cart-wheels    and 


236       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

axles,  American  trucks,  wheelbarrows,  window- 
frames,  and  many  other  additional  tools  and  imple- 
ments which  a  sailor  would  describe  under  the  one 
word,  gear."  But  at  the  same  time  he  cordially  ap- 
proves the  statement  he  heard  in  a  public  address 
that  *' civilization  without  Christianity  was  a  dry 
stick  to  plant  in  Africa  or  elsewhere." 

Self-support  and  Lovedale  Plans.  As  soon  as 
he  undertook  the  work  of  building  up  a  school  at 
Lovedale  (seven  hundred  miles  northeast  of  Cape 
Town),  he  encountered  the  ever-present  problem  of 
self-support — here  rendered  acute  by  African  in- 
dolence. The  school  seemed  to  the  natives  to  be 
a  prison,  where  their  children  were  to  be  immured 
for  the  benefit  of  the  stalwart  Scotchman,  and  they 
wanted  the  children  paid  for  "  making  a  book  for 
the  white  man."  The  first  fee  paid  Dr.  Stewart 
by  a  native  family  was  a  genuine  triumph  in  char- 
acter-building. The  program  for  the  institution 
embraced  "  the  rudiments  of  education  for  all,  in- 
dustrial training  for  the  many,  and  a  higher  educa- 
tion for  the  talented  few."  The  industrial  side  of 
the  school  he  did  not  expect  would  pay  for  itself, 
and  his  chief  ambition  was  not  to  make  goods,  but 
to  develop  power  of  accurate,  loyal,  cooperative  en- 
deavor. For  ages  the  attitude  of  the  natives  when 
not  fighting  had  been  "  just  sitting."  As  the  Chris- 
tian converts  were  forbidden  to  fight  or  raid,  they 
were  in  danger  of  flabbiness  and  vice.  To  work  in 
the  mines  was  to  them  terrifying.  "Why  should 
a  man  be  put  under  the  ground  before  he  is  dead?  " 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         237 

It  was  Stewart's  work  to  invent  types  of  labor  that 
should  be  attractive,  strenuous,  and  efficient.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  had  developed  an  educa- 
tional institution  which  had  on  the  literary  side 
five  departments — normal,  commercial,  arts,  medi- 
cal, and  theological;  and  on  the  industrial  side  five 
departments — agriculture,  building,  carpentry,  engi- 
neering and  blacksmithing,  printing  and  book- 
binding. '^  An  electrical  engineer  is  on  the  mission 
staff.  The  station  is  now  lighted,  and  the  machinery 
in  the  large  workshops  is  driven,  by  electricity; 
motors  are  used  for  flour-mills ;  and  the  natives  are 
taught  many  of  the  arts  and  crafts  of  civilized  life. 
Among  the  fourteen  hundred  students,  there  is  no 
pandering  to  African  pride  or  indolence.  Every 
one  has  to  take  his  turn  at  manual  labor.  On  Sab- 
baths the  scholars  scatter  among  neighboring  vil- 
lages to  preach." 

Industrial  Development.  Closely  connected  with 
the  manufacturing,  has  been  the  agricultural  growth 
of  Lovedale.  The  boys  in  school  were  early  re- 
quired to  do  thirteen  hours  of  outdoor  work  each 
week,  in  tree-planting,  gardening,  and  various  meth- 
ods of  tilling  the  soil.  Hundreds  of  acres  were 
brought  under  cultivation.  Native  blacksmiths 
literally  beat  native  spears  into  ''  plowshares  "  and 
native  assagais  into  scythes,  if  not  "  pruning  hooks." 
The  tidings  of  the  extraordinary  development  of 
civilization  in  South  Africa  stirred  all  Scotland. 
When  Dr.  Stewart,  after  his  first  eight  years,  re- 
visited Great  Britain,  he  was  well-nigh  embarrassed 


238       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

by  gifts  for  the  enlargement  of  the  work.  He  asked 
for  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  opening  a  mission  in 
Central  Africa,  but  the  gifts  amounted  to  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  When  he  returned  to  Liv- 
ingstonia,  Central  Africa,  with  a  skilful  physician, 
Dr.  Laws,  and  four  artizan  missionaries,  he  took 
with  him  a  steamboat  in  sections.  That  boat  was 
transported  on  the  backs  of  natives,  not  a  piece  being 
lost  on  the  way,  to  Lake  Nyasa,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  the  sea,  and  the  missionaries  sailed 
out  over  the  unexplored  lake,  singing  the  one  hun- 
dredth Psalm.  Greater  than  this  marvelous  work 
of  Dr.  Stewart  in  Livingstonia  were  his  later  most 
fruitful  years  at  Lovedale  in  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  Province. 

Symmetrical  Ideal.  Yet  with  him,  as  with 
William  Carey,  the  spiritual  impetus  behind  the 
multifarious  undertakings  never  failed.  '*  Are  we 
not,"  he  wrote,  "  in  danger  of  forgetting  our  real 
purpose?  All  this  work,  pleasant  to  see  and  bene- 
ficial as  it  will  be  in  its  results,  is  material  only. 
It  is  of  the  earth,  earthy.  It  begins  and  ends  with 
time.  A  certain  text  kept  constantly  recurring  to 
my  mind  as  I  walked  about  the  place:  *One  thing 
is  needful.'  "  And  again  he  said :  "  If  the  will  and 
conscience  is  right,  the  man  will  be  right.  Our  aim 
therefore  is  not  to  civilize  but  to  Christianize. 
Merely  to  civilize  can  never  be  the  primary  aim  of 
the  missionary.  Civilization  without  Christianity 
among  a  savage  people  is  a  mere  matter  of  clothes 
and    whitewash.      But   among   barbarous    races    a 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         239 

sound  missionary  method  will  in  every  way  en- 
deavor  to  promote  civilization  by  education  and  in- 
dustry, resting  on  the  solid  foundations  of  religious 
instruction.    Hence  there  is  a  variety  of  teaching."  ^ 

Kindred  Views  of  Dan  Crawford.  In  close  har- 
mony with  Dr.  Stewart's  ideals  have  been  those  of 
most  of  the  pioneers  in  Africa.  The  primitive 
brutal  conditions  of  savage  life  have  forced  the 
missionary  to  forget  academic  standards,  to  fling 
aside  all  fine-spun  speculation,  to  ignore  many  de- 
nominational shibboleths  and  preach  a  plain  gospel 
of  divine  love,  of  human  decency,  of  social  and 
spiritual  uplift,  of  daily  toil.  Mr.  Dan  Crawford, 
whose  heroic  work  lies  far  to  the  north  of  Lovedale, 
in  lands  that  neither  Stewart  nor  Livingstone  could 
penetrate,  writes :  "  Here  then  is  Africa's  challenge 
to  its  missionaries.  Will  they  allow  a  whole  con- 
tinent to  live  like  beasts  in  hovels,  millions  of 
negroes  cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined  in  dens  of 
disease  ?  No  doubt  it  is  our  diurnal  duty  to  preach 
that  the  soul  of  all  improvement  is  the  improvement 
of  the  soul.  But  God's  equilateral  triangle  of  body, 
soul,  and  spirit  must  never  be  ignored.  Is  not  the 
body  wholly  ensouled,  and  is  not  the  soul  wholly 
embodied?  ...  In  other  words,  in  Africa  the 
only  true  fulfilling  of  your  heavenly  calling  is  the 
doing  of  earthly  things  in  a  heavenly  manner."  ^ 

Great  Leaders  with  Imperial  Conceptions.  We 
see  then  that,  from  the  first  planting  of  Christian 

*  Stewart  of  Lovedale,  257. 
'  Thinking  Black,  444. 


240       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

faith  in  northern  India  a  century  and  a  half  ago 
down  to  the  present  day,  a  truly  imperial  concep- 
tion has  marked  many  of  the  leaders  in  the  enter- 
prise. Some  of  the  opponents  of  missions  have  said 
the  missionaries  were  mere  pietists,  seeking  only 
to  produce  certain  states  of  feeling  in  their  con- 
verts, but  making  no  serious  attempt  to  uplift  their 
lives.  Again  and  again  we  have  heard  that  the 
missionaries  preach  resignation  instead  of  initia- 
tive and  resolution,  and  offer  a  city  of  golden 
streets  hereafter,  while  they  do  little  to  clean  up 
the  streets  of  the  actual  cities  in  which  men  dwell. 
How  false  such  statements  are  we  can  now  see. 
True,  indeed,  it  is,  that  the  pietists  of  Germany 
were  early  stirred  by  the  woes  of  India.  The 
Moravian  Brethren,  with  their  intense  spiritual  con- 
centration, were  early  in  the  field.  The  very  limita- 
tion of  knowledge  sometimes  produces  a  certain 
type  of  heroic  endeavor.  But  as  we  have  seen,  the 
greatest  leaders  have  been  men,  not  only  of  ardent 
devotion,  but  of  world-wide  vision  and  world-con- 
quering aims.  They  have  often  stood  head  and 
shoulders  above  the  churches  that  sent  them  forth, 
and  have  evoked  an  admiring  but  reluctant  approval 
for  their  imperial  plans.  To  them  this  world  was 
no  mere  vale  of  tears,  but  a  presence-chamber  of 
the  Almighty.  Their  instruments  were  not  only 
exhortations  and  prayers,  but  colleges  and  hospitals 
and  botanical  gardens,  subsoil  plows,  artesian  wells, 
electric  lights,  and  honest,  useful,  manual  labor. 
They  could  pass   easily   from   pulpit  to  printing- 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         241 

press,  and  then  to  medicine-chest  or  dispensary. 
They  aimed,  not  at  reclaiming  a  section  of  human 
life,  but  at  transforming  the  whole  of  it. 

Men  too  Large  for  Narrow  Horizons.  The 
friends  of  the  missionary  undertaking  have  some- 
times said  that,  if  we  were  like  the  great  founders, 
we  should  have  an  eye  for  nothing  but  the  sum- 
mons to  repent,  and  should  regard  education,  sani- 
tation, industry,  as  superfluous  appendages  to  the 
spiritual  aim.  Such  a  statement  is  wholly  mistaken. 
It  is  of  course  true  that  once  the  chief  motive  of 
missions,  deeply  felt  by  our  fathers,  was  to  rescue 
men  from  perdition,  and  all  other  dangers  seemed 
small  compared  with  that.  But  that  motive  was 
dominant  in  work  at  home  as  truly  as  abroad.  The 
narrower  world-view,  the  "  other-worldliness " 
which  ignored  the  needs  of  the  body,  wdiich  cared 
little  for  environment,  or  social  institutions  or  citi- 
zenship, was  characteristic  of  all  Christendom,  and 
prevailed  in  Britain,  as  much  as  in  any  Oriental 
mission-chapel.  But  the  great  founders  sent  their 
vision  far  beyond  the  limits  of  orthodox  opinions. 
One  reason  why  they  went  to  the  foreign  field  was 
that  they  were  too  large  to  submit  to  the  horizons 
existing  at  home.  The  faith  of  Robert  Morrison 
and  Peter  Parker  in  China,  of  Robert  Moffat  in 
Africa,  of  Cyrus  Hamlin  in  Turkey,  was  no  mere 
ascetic  renunciation  of  life.  It  was  a  virile  and  joy- 
ous proclamation  of  complete  life  for  continents  and 
races.  It  was  not  what  the  Germans  call  "world- 
denial,"    but    "  world-affirmation."      Those    great 


242       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

pioneers  sought  to  bring  "  every  thought  into  cap- 
tivity to  Christ,"  and  every  human  institution 
and  invention  and  organization.  They  fervently 
believed  that  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  v^orld — king- 
doms of  language,  literature,  science,  art,  business, 
government — were  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord.  Their  great  ideal  drove  them  out  of  obscure 
home  villages  into  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  the 
stay-at-home  Christians  have  since  been  limping 
slowly  up  to  the  heights  of  vision  where  those  lead- 
ers stood. 

Men  Continuing  the  Type.  To-day  there  are 
scores  of  missionaries  on  the  foreign  field  who  are 
emulating  Carey  and  Duff  and  Livingstone  and 
Stewart  and  the  apostle  Paul  in  the  endeavor  ''  hy 
all  means'' to  ''save  some."  The  teaching  of  the 
great  founders  has  never  ceased  to  echo  in  the  lives 
of  their  successors.  A  host  of  men  and  women  on 
the  foreign  field  are  exhibiting  not  only  piety  and 
devotion,  but  insight,  versatility,  and  breadth  of 
sympathy.  They  are  harnessing  all  scientific  dis- 
covery, all  medical  skill,  all  agricultural  implements 
into  the  service  of  the  advancing  Kingdom.  One  of 
them  speaks  for  many  when  he  writes :  '*  Few  peo- 
ple have  recognized  the  enormous  social  contribu- 
tion made  by  the  medical  profession  in  India  which 
has  in  truth  subdued  kingdoms  of  disease,  wrought 
righteousness,  stopped  the  sting  of  reptiles,  and  put 
to  flight  armies  of  microbes.  If  a  great  number  of 
our  finest  young  men  from  western  India  could 
press  into  the  Agricultural  College  at  Poona  and 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         243 

there,  under  Dr.  Mann's  inspiring  leadership,  se- 
cure equipment  for  the  agricultural,  moral,  and 
spiritual  regeneration  of  thousands  of  villages,  the 
Kingdom  would  the  sooner  come.  The  Christian 
missionaries  from  the  earliest  days  in  India  have 
been  aggressive  social  workers."  ^ 

Sociological  View-point.  Many  of  the  young 
people  who  have  recently  gone  to  the  foreign  field 
are  feeling  the  powerful  influence  of  the  sociological 
point  of  view.  In  American  colleges  for  the  last 
twenty  years  the  most  popular  studies  have  been 
what  Woodrow  Wilson  calls  "  the  new  humani- 
ties,"— ^the  study  of  society,  the  family,  govern- 
ment, economic  laws,  social  reform,  and  human  up- 
lift. Theological  seminaries  have  made  Hebrew 
an  elective  subject  and  established  chairs  of  soci- 
ology. Anthropology  has  made  us  take  a  new  in- 
terest in  all  the  beliefs  and  customs  of  savage  races, 
and  comparative  religion  has  taught  us  to  find  both 
resemblances  and  contrasts  between  Christianity  and 
the  great  ethnic  religions.  A  tremendous  social  im- 
pulse has  swept  over  America.  We  have  acquired 
a  new  sympathy  for  the  prisoner  in  his  cell,  for 
deserted  wives  and  homeless  children,  a  new  inter- 
est in  the  better  housing  of  the  poor,  wholesome 
recreation,  the  prevention  of  diphtheria  and  typhoid, 
and  the  creation  of  a  finer  social  order  for  all  hu- 
man beings.  In  our  churches  this  new  attitude  has 
led  to  the  building  of  parish  houses,  to  "hospital 
Sunday"  and  **  tuberculosis   Sunday,"  to   all  the 

*  E.  C.  Carter  in  Young  Men  of  India,  February,  1912. 


244       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

varied — and  sometimes  perplexing — activities  of 
the  institutional  church.  This  new  outlook  is  voiced 
in  the  declaration  of  Professor  William  Adams 
Brown : 

Remaking  the  World  with  God.  *'  Christianity 
is  not  simply  a  religion  for  individuals.  It  has 
a  public  message.  It  contemplates  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  society  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  the  units  which 
compose  it.  Best  of  all  the  gifts  which  it  offers 
man  is  the  right  to  share  with  God  in  his  work  of 
making  out  of  this  wonderful,  growing  world  of 
ours  ...  all  that  in  the  divine  plan  it  was  meant 
to  be." 

Outward  Sweep  of  Social  Methods.  But  can  we 
expect  that  this  new  enthusiasm  for  social  recon- 
struction will  be  confined  to  the  churches  at  home? 
Already  it  has  swept  into  South  America,  where 
Protestants  are  reproducing  some  of  the  industrial 
methods  of  the  old  Jesuit  missions.  Already  it  has 
projected  itself  into  the  missions  of  the  Orient  and 
the  South  Pacific.  Where  nations  are  just  awak- 
ening from  political  and  social  stagnation,  as  in 
China,  the  new  social  methods  are  absolutely  indis- 
pensable. The  task  of  the  missionary  there  is  not 
to  call  out  the  most  receptive  minds  from  their 
kindred,  but  through  those  minds  to  permeate  and 
reconstruct  the  national  conscience  and  ideal.  A 
group  of  young  missionaries  in  North  China  have 
definitely  adopted  the  methods  of  social  study  which 
they  learned  in  American  universities.  They  are 
investigating  the  walled  cities  of  China  after  the 


Great  Founders  and  Their  Ideals         245 

manner  of  the  "  Pittsburgh  Survey."  They  realize 
that  it  is  useless  to  acquire  the  Chinese  language 
unless  they  acquire  also  a  knowledge  of  Chinese 
homes,  employments,  wages,  diseases,  superstitions, 
and  ideals.  Two  small  books  by  J.  S.  Burgess  of 
Peking,  a  Princeton  graduate,  have  recently  ap- 
peared, written  from  this  standpoint  and  intended 
as  guides  in  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
effort.  They  are  Methods  of  Social  Work  and 
How  to  Study  the  Jinrickshaw  Coolie.  No  traveler 
from  the  West  can  ride  day  after  day  behind  the 
runners  in  the  jinrickshaw  without  observing  their 
swollen  legs,  their  callous  shoulders,  and  all  the 
signs  of  swift  physical  breakdown.  At  last  Chris- 
tianity is  to  approach  this  great  human  group,  not 
only  with  tracts,  but  with  statistical  inquiry  as  to 
the  wrongs  they  suffer,  the  hard  lives  they  lead, 
the  kind  of  help  they  need.  Some  of  the  younger 
missionaries  around  Peking  are  banded  together 
with  native  Christians  in  a  social  service  club  which 
is  waging  war  against  opium,  the  cigaret,  the 
gambling-den,  and  is  preaching  at  fairs  and  festi- 
vals, in  city  streets  and  on  country  roads,  the  duties 
of  personal  purity  and  devotion  to  the  common 
good. 

Room  for  All  Types.  Of  course  not  all  our  rep- 
resentatives abroad  are  or  can  be  of  such  a  type. 
There  is  need  of  all  types,  to  reach  all  types.  The 
mystic,  the  dreamer,  even  the  ascetic,  may  have  his 
place  and  function,  as  well  as  the  robust  leader,  the 
born    commander   of   men.     The   writing  of    The 


.246       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Imitation  of  Christ  may  have  been  as  great  a  serv- 
ice as  the  evangelization  of  any  tribe,  or  the  social 
uplift  of  a  province.  "All  service  ranks  the  same 
with  God."  But  in  any  survey  of  the  foreign  field 
we  must  give  high  place  to  the  men  and  women  of 
this  new  social  vision,  which  after  all  is  the  old 
vision  of  the  founders.  These  young  Elishas  are 
buoyant,  optimistic,  modern,  but  the  mantle  of  the 
earlier  Elijahs  they  have  caught  up  and  made  their 
own. 


THE  INTERCHANGE  OF  EAST 
AND  WEST 


India  has  interested  me  intensely.  Its  past  and  present  and 
future  are  all  full  of  suggestion.  I  long  to  see  Christianity  come 
here,  not  merely  for  what  it  will  do  for  India,  but  for  what  India 
will  do  for  it.  Here  it  must  find  again  the  lost  Oriental  side  of 
its  brain  and  heart,  and  be  no  longer  the  Occidental  European 
religion  which  it  has  so  strangely  become.  It  must  be  again  the 
religion  of  Man,  and  so  the  religion   for  all  men. 

—Phillips  Brooks. 

For  one  of  Western  birth,  who  attempts  in  the  sensitized  at- 
mosphere of  modern  India  to  give  moral  content  to  the  idea  of 
God,  to  differentiate  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  from  the 
incarnations  of  Hinduism  and  to  ethicize  religion  in  the  thought 
and  practise  of  the  individual,  there  must  be  a  preparation  of  spirit 
as  well  as  a  preparation  of  mind.  Intellectual  research  is  not 
enough.  There  must  be  born  within  one  a  chastened  and  humble 
temper,  a  heart  of  love.  The  pride  of  Anglo-Saxon  birth  must  be 
subdued;  the  fierce  intolerance  toward  the  halting,  irresolute, 
dreaming  East  must  be  rebuked  and  overthrown  by  Christlike  love. 
Reverence  must  supplant  contempt,  and  the  honor  of  brotherhood 
the    pious    disdain    that    stoops    to    save    what    it    cannot    respect. 

—Charles    Cuthbert   Hall. 

Personally  I  was  in  a  sense  made  over  new  during  those  years 
and  many  of  the  ideas  I  had  brought  over  from  America  with  me 
had  to  go.  I  made  myself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  ways 
of  the  people  ...  I  began  by  making  fun  of  the  Hindu  gods,  and 
by  trying  to  shake  the  faith  of  the  people  in  them.  It  did  not  take 
me  long  to  see  that  was  not  the  way  to  do.  Some  were  angered 
by  it  needlessly;  others  lost  faith  in  their  old  gods  by  what  I  said, 
but  did  not  accept  Jesus  in  place  of  them  and  were  thus  sent  adrift. 
I  stopped  that  method.  I  settled  down  to  just  telling  the  people, 
singly  or  in  groups,  about  Jesus  and  his  life  and  death  and  what 
he  could  be  to  them  if  they  would  receive  him.  That  did  the  work. 
When  they  accepted  Jesus,  their  old  idol-worship  went  at  a  stroke 
and  my  destructive  attempts  were  not  necessary. 

— John  E.  Clough, 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  INTERCHANGE  OF  EAST  AND  WEST 

Right  Understanding  Determines  Commerce. 
The  enormous  increase  in  means  of  communication 
in  the  modern  world  may  well  make  us  ask  what 
we  are  going  to  communicate.  Everywhere  the 
paths  are  multiplying — paths  of  steel  over  prairies 
and  steppes  and  deserts,  paths  of  electric  wire 
through  the  depths  of  the  sea.  But  what  is  to  be 
sent  over  these  paths?  The  exchange  of  goods  is 
important,  but  that  is  impossible  until  we  have  first 
exchanged  ideas.  American  manufacturers  are 
often  seeking  to  break  into  Oriental  markets,  not 
realizing  that  they  must  penetrate  into  the  Oriental 
mind.  We  cannot  trade  with  a  sphinx.  We  can- 
not do  business  with  a  man  whose  point  of  view 
we  ignore  and  disdain.  We  must  put  ourselves 
in  his  place,  before  we  can  put  our  products  in  his 
home.  Because  Americans  seldom  try  to  under- 
stand the  foreigner,  we  find  in  foreign  cities  quanti- 
ties of  American  goods  that  cannot  be  sold — made 
in  sizes  too  large  or  too  small,  of  materials  that 
will  not  stand  the  climate,  in  colors  considered  un- 
lucky, and  packed  in  boxes  that  seem  of  evil  omen. 
We  find  chairs  sent  to  people  who  never  sat  on 
a  chair,  tables  for  those  who  prefer  the  floor,  rub- 

349 


250       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

ber  shoes  that  crumble  in  tropical  moisture,  grains 
that  mildew  before  they  arrive,  and  preserved  fruits 
v^hose  very  labels  are  considered  dangerous  by  the 
Orientals. 

Contempt  Creates  a  Barrier.  Slowly  we  are  com- 
ing out  of  our  Western  provincialism,  and  are  be- 
ginning to  see  that  back  of  all  physical  and  economic 
exchange  lies  the  necessity  for  intellectual  and 
spiritual  understanding.  Nothing  so  quickly  closes 
and  seals  the  mind  as  the  spirit  of  contempt.  So 
long  as  China  regarded  the  Caucasian  race  as  ''  for- 
eign devils  "  there  was  no  hope  for  China.  So  long 
as  Japan  shut  out  the  West  in  medieval  disdain, 
she  was  condemned  to  a  medieval  civilization.  So 
long  as  we  in  America  speak,  or  even  think,  of  the 
foreigner  as  ''  heathen  Chinee "  or  "  dago "  or 
"  sheeny,"  we  are  sealing  up  the  eyes  of  our  own 
understanding.  The  vitally  needed  communication 
between  America  and  foreign  lands  is  not  com- 
mercial, but  intellectual  and  spiritual.  We  chiefly 
need  to  send  abroad,  not  the  product  of  our  blast- 
furnaces and  our  looms,  but  the  ideals  and  prin- 
ciples of  civil  freedom  and  religious  faith.  And 
the  things  we  need  to  gain  from  traffic  with  other 
lands  are  not  jewels  and  spices  and  silks,  but  a  cos- 
mopolitan spirit,  a  world-wide  sympathy,  a  genuine 
"  respect  for  the  unlikeness  which  accompanies 
likeness."  All  peoples — Caucasian,  Mongolian, 
Malay,  African — are  to-day  forced  into  diplomatic 
and  economic  intercourse.  Such  intercourse  is  fu- 
tile apart  from  that  spiritual  understanding  out  of 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  251 

which  alone  can  come  the  parliament  of  man,  the 
federation  of  the  world,  and  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Romance  of  Plant  and  Fruit  Diffusion.  The 
exchange  of  seeds  and  cuttings  between  different 
lands  would  furnish  materials  for  a  most  romantic 
story,  if  any  one  would  write  it.  We  are  all  fa- 
miliar with  Carey's  delight  when  the  tiny  specimen 
of  the  English  daisy,  sent  out  from  England,  began 
to  bloom  in  Serampur.  In  1907  the  spineless  cactus 
was  sent  from  California  to  a  missionary  experi- 
ment farm  in  India,  where  it  promises  to  save  much 
animal,  and  therefore  much  human,  life.  The  best 
grains  and  fruits  and  trees  of  America  have  been 
planted  by  missionaries  under  the  Southern  Cross 
and  on  the  table-lands  of  Asia.  And  the  reverse 
process  has  constantly  been  going  on.  David  G. 
Fairchild  of  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  in  the  United  States,  recently 
said:  "The  best  varieties  of  wheat  now  grown 
through  the  South  originated  from  seed  sent  over 
to  Georgia  by  missionaries.  Our  most  profitable 
pear  originated  as  a  cross  between  seedlings  im- 
ported by  missionaries  from  China  and  an  Ameri- 
can pear.  The  soy  bean  from  Japan  and  China 
was  also  introduced  by  missionaries."  ^ 

Mind  Fertilization  Between  Races.  But  it  is  the 
exchange  of  ideas  and  ideals  which  chiefly  counts, 
and  which  plainly  marks  the  growth  of  a  world 
consciousness  in  our  time.  Thousands  of  students 
from  the  Orient  have  had  their  minds  fertilized  at 

^  James  L.  Barton,  Human  Progress  Through  Missions,  43. 


252        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

American  colleges,  and  have  carried  back  the  pollen 
to  their  own  people.  The  story  of  Obookiah,  the 
Hawaiian  boy  found  weeping  on  the  steps  of  Yale 
College  in  1809,  has  often  been  told.  The  story 
of  Joseph  Hardy  Neesima,  smuggled  out  of  Japan 
in  1864,  educated  at  Amherst  and  Andover,  and 
returning  to  found  The  Doshisha  in  Kyoto,  is  now 
a  part  of  international  history.  The  career  of  Sun 
Yat-sen,  the  leader  in  the  Chinese  revolution  of  19 12, 
educated  as  a  boy  in  a  Christian  mission  school  at 
Canton,  later  transported  to  England  and  imbued 
with  Christian  ideals,  is  known  throughout  the 
world.  The  career  of  C.  T.  Wang,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  University,  has  vitally  affected  all  the  future 
of  China,  and  his  work  as  student  secretary  for  the 
Chinese  in  Tokyo,  then  as  Acting  Minister  of  Com- 
merce in  Yuan  Shi-kai's  cabinet,  then  as  Vice- 
President  of  the  new  Senate  in  Peking,  has  spread 
abroad  the  Christian  attitude  toward  modern  life 
through  scores  of  novel  channels. 

Exchange  Professorships  and  Asiatic  Addresses. 
The  system  of  exchange  professorships  is  accom- 
plishing much  for  the  cross-fertilization  of  the  East 
and  the  West.  The  recent  visits  of  President 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  President  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
Professor  Charles  R.  Henderson,  Professor  Francis 
G.  Peabody,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie  have  in- 
terpreted Western  ideals  to  Eastern  minds  with  the 
happiest  results.  These  men  have  never  tolerated 
the  old  attitude  of  pity  and  disdain  for  every- 
thinsf  foreisrn.     Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  has  frankly 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  253 

lamented  that  in  the  past  "  we  have  drawn  the  thick 
veil  of  Western  civilization  between  the  face  of 
Christ  and  the  waiting  East."  All  of  these  ripened 
Western  scholars  have  gone  forth  to  carry  our 
chief  values  to  the  regions  beyond  and  to  discover 
the  values  which  others  may  possess.  Side  by 
side  with  their  efforts  we  may  put  the  more  directly 
missionary  work  of  such  men  as  Dr.  John  R.  Mott 
and  Mr.  Sherwood  Eddy,^  whose  tour  through 
Japan,  India,  and  China  in  1912-13  was  startling 
in  the  response  it  evoked.  With  uncompromising 
earnestness,  but  with  genuine  respect  for  Oriental 
institutions,  they  so  presented  the  Christian  faith 
that  audiences  averaging  eight  hundred  greeted 
them  in  Japan,  audiences  of  one  thousand  in  India, 
and  in  China  no  halls  seemed  large  enough  for  the 
crowds  that  flocked  to  hear  these  messengers  of  the 
faith  which  has  created  the  Western  world.  At 
Mukden,  in  Manchuria,  all  the  government  schools 
were  dismissed,  while  some  four  thousand  people 
thronged  the  great  hall  to  hear  the  speakers.  With 
such  an  open  door  is  it  any  wonder  that  one  of 
those  men  recently  declined  to  accept  the  post  of 
ambassador  to  China  ?  He  was  already  ambassador 
by  virtue  of  a  more  ancient  commission,  sent  forth 
by  a  more  than  world-power. 

Fellowships    at   Oriental   Schools.      This    cross- 
fertilization  would  be  still  further  promoted  by  a 
series   of    fellowships,    enabling   American   college 
graduates  to  go  into  the  Farther  East  for  graduate 
^  Sherwood  Eddy,  The  New  Era  in  Asia. 


254       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

study.  For  seventy-five  years  or  more  we  have 
been  sending  many  of  our  finest  young  men  to 
Europe  for  the  continuation  of  their  higher  educa- 
tion. Is  it  not  time  that  v^e  should  begin  to  send 
them  to  the  Orient,  also?  Of  course  there  are  as 
yet  few  universities  in  the  East  developed  along 
our  Western  lines.  But  in  the  study  of  Oriental 
diplomacy,  or  trade,  or  history,  or  social  structure, 
or  religions,  in  the  study  of  Oriental  art,  or  litera- 
ture, or  archeology,  a  student  actually  on  the 
ground — in  Cairo,  or  Constantinople,  or  Calcutta, 
or  in  the  flourishing  University  of  Hongkong — 
could  accomplish  some  things  impossible  in  any  of 
the  libraries  of  the  Western  world. 

Oriental  Courses  by  Western  Teachers.  In  a 
similar  way  great  good  would  come  if  Christian 
teachers  in  American  colleges  could  spend  some 
of  their  Sabbatic  years  in  the  Orient.  In  most 
colleges  the  professor  is  now  given  leave  of  absence 
on  half  salary  one  year  in  seven.  Frequently  he 
does  not  know  what  to  do  with  that  year.  He 
revisits  Oxford  or  Berlin  or  Vienna,  but  he  does 
not  want  to  become  again  a  student,  and  he  is  not 
wanted  as  a  teacher.  But  if  he  could  settle  down 
for  six  months  at  Robert  College  on  the  Bosporus, 
or  at  the  Peking  University,  or  at  St.  John's  College 
in  Shanghai,  or  at  the  Waseda  University  in  Tokyo, 
he  would  gain  for  himself  a  wholly  new  horizon, 
an  unfailing  stimulus,  and  he  might  give  to  hun- 
dreds of  eager  students  the  best  Christian  teaching 
of  the  Western  world.    What  might  not  be  achieved 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  255 

if  Western  professors,  of  national  or  international 
reputation,  were  to  lecture  in  Oriental  cities  for  a 
whole  winter  on  modern  psychology,  or  social  sci- 
ence/ or  English  literature,  or  Biblical  literature, 
or  Christian  theism?  The  fact  that  our  American 
teachers  already  would  be  in  receipt  of  half-salary 
would  render  the  financial  problem  not  insoluble. 
Christian  teachers  moving  through  foreign  lands 
would  be  ambassadors  of  peace,  of  knowledge,  of 
faith. 

Essence  of  the  Gospel.  But  what  is  the  vital 
gospel  that  our  ambassadors  of  Christ  have  to  give 
to  other  lands?  Exactly  what  is  the  con- 
tent of  the  message?  Harnack  tells  us  that  the 
entire  Christian  message  of  the  early  Church,  and 
indeed  of  the  first  three  Christian  centuries,  may 
be  summed  up  in  the  single  passage,  i  Thessalonians 
i.  9,  10:  ''  Ye  turned  unto  God  from  idols,  to  serve 
a  living  and  true  God,  and  to  wait  for  his  Son  from 
heaven,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead,  even  Jesus, 
who  delivereth  us  from  the  wrath  to  come."  ^  Re- 
leased from  apocalyptic  imagery  that  first  message, 
that  triumphed  over  the  known  world  in  three  cen- 
turies, is  precisely  our  message  to-day.  A  living 
(personal)  and  true  (real)  God,  far  beyond  all  mate- 
rial symbols,  was  the  forefront  of  the  message. 
Next  came  the  proclamation  of  a  Jesus  (Savior), 


*  See  Prof.  Henderson's  lectures  in  the  Orient:  Social 
Programs  of  the  West. 

^Expansion  of  Christianity  in  the  First  Three  Centuries, 
Vol.  I.  108. 


256       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

deliverer  from  fear  and  sin,  and  yet  to  be  revealed 
in  his  eternal  greatness.  Next  came  faith  in  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus,  his  victory  over  death  being 
the  pledge  of  our  immortal  life.  Last  was  the  an- 
nouncement of  a  final  judgment,  making  moral 
issues  clear  at  length,  and  now  making  righteous- 
ness the  supreme  obligation  of  human  life.  Faith 
in  one  living  God,  in  Jesus  the  deliverer,  in  immor- 
tality, in  righteousness, — is  not  this  the  message  that 
still  transforms  the  individual  or  the  nation? 

Gift  of  the  Christian  Faith.  Our  greatest  gift 
to  other  peoples  and  races  is  the  gift  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  We  are  to  carry  not  only  science  and 
its  dazzling  results,  not  only  civil  freedom  "  slowly 
broadening  down  from  precedent  to  precedent,"  but 
the  Christian  gospel.  To  look  on  life  through  the 
eyes  of  Christ,  to  hate  what  he  hated  and  love  what 
he  loved,  and  live  for  the  things  he  believed  worth 
while,  means  the  supreme  happiness  and  the  high- 
est efficiency  for  any  nation.  To  plant  the  Chris- 
tian faith  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  any  savage 
tribe,  or  any  cultivated  city,  is  to  make  the  great- 
est of  all  international  gifts.  It  is  sometimes  said 
that  we  are  not  warranted  in  interfering  with  na- 
tive faiths.  But  the  policy  of  ''  non-interference 
in  religion  "  is  to-day  antiquated  and  absurd.  Are 
we  not  "  interfering"  in  everything  else?  We  are 
interfering  in  all  tropical  lands  on  the  globe.  We 
have  partitioned  Africa,  since  Stanley's  great  jour- 
ney, and  have  taken  possession  of  large  sections  of 
China.     Within  fifty  years  white  men  have  seized 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  257 

about  eleven  million  square  miles  in  the  tropics. 
Where  we  do  not  seize,  we  still  interfere,  by  ex- 
porting our  goods  to  supplant  native  products,  by 
scattering  our  ideas  of  representative  government, 
of  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  of  the  right  of  the 
oppressed  to  rebel.  Is  it  only  in  religion  that  we 
may  not  interfere?  We  are  interfering  by  circu- 
lating through  Constantinople  and  Canton  and 
Yokohama  the  writings  of  Thomas  Paine  and 
Charles  Bradlaugh.  Is  it  only  the  writings  of 
Christian  prophets  and  seers  that  we  may  not  circu- 
late? We  are  giving  rapidly  to  all  the  islands  of 
the  sea  the  discontents,  the  social  upheavals,  the 
disorganizing  forces  of  the  West.  Is  it  imperti- 
nence to  give  them  our  constructive  faith  as  well? 
Never  was  there  a  more  shallow  view  than  that 
which  regards  the  missionary  enterprise  as  unwar- 
ranted interference.  That  enterprise  means  simply 
the  resolve  that  our  best  shall  follow  our  worst, 
or  go  with  it,  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Qualities  of  Character.  But  what  is  the  best  in 
the  realm  of  character  ?  What  moral  qualities  may 
we,  without  Pharisaism,  hope  to  give  to  other 
peoples  ? 

Truthfulness.  We  are  surely  bound  to  give  our 
Western  sense  of  the  value  of  truthfulness.  When 
Lord  Curzon  ended  his  remarkable  career  as  Vice- 
roy of  India,  he  made  a  farewell  address  at  the 
University  of  Calcutta,  in  which  he  said :  "  The 
highest  ideal  of  truth  is  to  a  large  extent  a  West- 
ern conception.     Truth  took  a  higher  stand  in  the 


258       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

moral  codes  of  the  West  long  before  it  had  been 
similarly  honored  in  the  East,  where  craftiness  and 
diplomatic  wile  have  always  been  held  in  repute." 
His  words  of  course  aroused  resentment  and  pro- 
test. Leading  Indians  reminded  him  of  the  fa- 
mous phrase  "  perfidious  Albion."  ^  They  explained 
that  accuracy  seemed  mere  pettifogging  to  the  mys- 
tic temperament,  and  that  the  Eastern  reporter 
attempts  to  communicate  his  subjective  feeling 
rather  than  the  objective  fact.  To  discuss  that  mat- 
ter would  lead  us  into  the  field  of  racial  psychology. 
We  would  not  indict  a  whole  nation,  much  less  a 
race.  But  the  fact  remains  that,  while  the  Occident 
violates  truth  and  is  ashamed  of  it,  the  Orient  often 
violates  truth  on  the  naive  assumption  that  indirec- 
tion and  evasion  is  the  natural  defense  of  the  weak 
against  the  strong.  For  thousands  of  years  the 
insolence  of  tyrants  has  been  met  by  a  systematic 
concealment  of  inner  purpose.  Hence  to  speak 
one's  inmost  self  has  seemed  impolitic  or  discour- 
teous, and  an  elaborate  system  of  etiquette,  guarding 
all  approaches  to  the  self,  has  made  human  inter- 
course artificial  and  unreal.  Never  will  the  Orient 
achieve  unity  and  progress,  never  will  it  have  the 
confidence  of  the  Western  world  until  it  shall  say  of 
each  earthly  kingdom :  "  Into  it  shall  not  enter  what- 
soever loveth  or  maketh  a  lie." 

Justice.     But  another  quality  that  our  Western 
peoples  have  especially  developed  is  the  sense  of 

^  A  favorite  expression  of  Napoleon  I  in  referring  to  Eng- 
land. 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  259 

justice.  From  the  days  of  Justinian  to  those  of 
Blackstone  and  Kent,  from  the  writing  of  Magna 
Charta  to  the  compact  in  the  Mayflower  -and  the 
charter  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  our  fathers 
have  been  intent  on  searching  out  the  fundamental 
principles,  the  *'  inalienable  rights,"  which  no  na- 
tion may  violate  and  endure.  But  if  there  is  one 
thing  that  the  average  Oriental  mind  fears,  it  is 
impersonal  and  abstract  justice.  To  him  the  con- 
ception of  an  impersonal  law,  knowing  neither 
friend  nor  foe,  superior  to  all  pity  and  personal 
attachment,  seems  mechanical  and  inhuman.  What 
he  wants  is  not  cold,  relentless  justice, — he  wants 
the  personal  sympathy  and  generosity  of  a  power- 
ful protector.  If  a  judge  merely  studied  precedents 
and  asked,  not  so  much  what  is  equitable,  as  what 
is  legal,  he  would  be  feared  and  hated  by  the  un- 
trained populace  in  any  Eastern  province.  But 
wherever  the  empire  of  Great  Britain  has  gone  it 
has  established  first  and  foremost  the  eternal  prin- 
ciple of  justice.  It  has  indeed  often  withheld  hu- 
man sympathy,  has  been  sometimes  brutally  direct, 
but  it  has  given  justice  the  primacy  among  national 
virtues.  And  where  British  rule  has  not  come,  but 
the  Christian  ideal  has  penetrated,  there  to-day  we 
hear  a  new  cry  for  justice.  We  hear  it  in  the  re- 
form of  the  penal  code  in  China,  in  the  more 
humane  attitude  of  the  Dutch  government  in  Java, 
in  the  release  of  Cuba  from  the  Spanish  yoke,  and 
in  the  cry  of  Africa  for  release  from  the  age-long 
cruelties  that  have  crimsoned  her  great  rivers  from 


26o       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

the  mountains  to  the  sea.  ''  The  Republic  of  China 
cannot  endure,"  said  Sun  Yat-sen,  "  unless  that 
righteousness  for  which  the  Christian  religion 
stands  is  at  the  center  of  the  national  life." 

Brotherhood.  The  great  doctrine  of  human 
brotherhood  is  nowhere  even  theoretically  accepted, 
much  less  practised,  in  non-Christian  lands.  That 
brotherhood,  absolutely  denied  by  the  caste  system 
of  India,  by  the  tribal  organizations  of  Africa  and 
Oceania,  and  by  the  old  Chinese  officials,  is  far 
more  than  political  democracy.  Democracy  is  the 
recognition  of  rights,  brotherhood  is  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  duties.  Brotherhood  means  especial 
regard  for  the  weaker  members  of  society.  It 
means  everywhere  the  release  of  womanhood  from 
cruel  customs,  from  ignorance,  from  abject  sub- 
ordination. It  means  that  ''  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  and  the 
poor  have  good  tidings  preached  to  them."  It 
means  that  the  weakest  life  is  cherished  as  con- 
taining the  possibility  of  measureless  strength.  It 
means  a  reverence  for  childhood,  which  amid  the 
awful  pressure  of  Oriental  populations  has  fre- 
quently vanished.  One  verse  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment has  often  provoked  opposition  from  Chinese 
inquirers :  '*  The  children  ought  not  to  lay  up  for 
the  parents,  but  the  parents  for  the  children." 
That  fathers  should  find  their  highest  function  in 
caring,  not  for  the  past,  but  for  the  coming  gen- 
eration, still  weak  and  defenseless — that  has  seemed 
to  Chinese  thinking  an  inversion  of  society.     And 


MAIN    BUILDING,    HOSPITAL,    GUXTUR,    INDIA 
Capacity    loo   beds,   with  maternity   building   and   infectious   wards 


ORPHANAGE,    (JUNTUK,    INDIA 

Orphans   are    trained    in    printing,    weaving,    carpentry,    and   other 
industries 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  261 

so  it  is.     ''  These  that  have  turned  the  world  up- 
side down  are  come  hither,  also." 

Spiritual  Energy.  Greatest  of  all  our  gifts  to 
the  Orient  may  be  the  impartation  of  spiritual  en- 
ergy. The  physical  indolence  of  barbarous  tribes 
is  only  the  outer  reflection  of  inner  lethargy. 
There  is  an  old  Hindu  saying:  *'  It  is  not  exertion, 
but  inertion  (vairagya)  which  is  the  path  to  libera- 
tion." To  stir  the  Eastern  mind  from  its  acquies- 
cence in  fate,  its  placid  belief  that  all  is  Maya,  or 
illusion,  that  nothing  is  really  worth  while — to  fur- 
nish power  of  moral  exertion,  is  the  greatest  task 
of  Christianity.  The  maxims  of  Confucius  are  ad- 
mirable, but  they  have  petrified  rather  than  ener- 
gized a  noble  nation.  The  hymns  of  the  Vedas  are 
as  pure  and  lofty  as  any  prayers  in  any  human 
tongue — and  those  who  recite  them  go  on  hating 
their  brothers  and  worshiping  their  cows.  The  pre- 
cepts of  the  Koran  are  usually  identical  with  those 
of  our  Old  Testament  and  sometimes  with  those  of 
the  New — yet  the  men  who  repeat  them  five  times 
a  day  are  the  men  guilty  of  Armenia's  woes  and  the 
five  hundred  years  of  oppression  in  the  Balkan 
States.  ''  I  see  the  better,"  said  the  Roman  poet, 
''  and  approve  it,  but  I  follow  the  worse."  When 
Henry  Martyn  was  translating  the  New  Testament 
into  Persian  he  could  find  no  word  in  the  Persian 
tongue  for  conscience.  He  used  fourteen  dififerent 
terms  in  trying  to  express  what  Christianity  means 
by  conscience,  and  still  was  satisfied  that  he  had 
not  conveyed  the  idea.     A  wholly  new  idea  it  is 


262        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

impossible  to  convey  to  any  mind;  always  by 
*'  hooks  and  eyes  "  we  must  attach  the  novel  idea  to 
the  familiar  ones.  But  why  should  conscience, 
duty,  oughtness,  be  novel  to  an  ancient  people? 
What  can  give  those  nations  of  famous  history 
power  to  shake  off  this  fatal  submission  to  fate, 
this  paralyzing  inability  to  believe  and  to  act,  this 
loss  of  faith  in  their  own  personality  and  achieve- 
ment ?  What  can  give  the  Orient  not  only  wisdom, 
but  power?  Only  one  thing, — faith  in  the  Christ 
who  is  at  once  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power 
of  God. 

Self-reliance  and  Self-direction.  In  one  of  his 
American  lectures  Dr.  Nitobe  said :  ''  American  in- 
fluence in  Asia  cannot  be  otherwise  than  wholesome 
as  long  as  it  is  exercised  in  infusing  the  vast  mass 
of  humanity  there  with  the  consciousness  of  their 
own  dignity  and  mission — a  task  which  Europe  not 
only  neglected,  but  positively  refused  to  perform 
on  every  occasion.  ...  It  is  by  awakening  in  the 
Eastern  mind  the  sense  of  personal  and  national 
responsibility  that  America  has  imparted  energy  to 
its  inertness — by  suggesting  to  it  that  power  which 
so  eminently  characterizes  the  American  people, 
and  which  Professor  Miinsterberg  calls  '  the  spirit 
of  self-direction.'  It  was  this  spirit  of  self-reliance 
and  self-development  which  early  passed  through 
cannon-holes  into  Oriental  communities,  and  there, 
leavening  the  leaders  and  the  masses,  emancipated 
Japan  from  the  iron  shackles  of  convention  and  con- 
formity, and  which  promises  to  put  an  end  to  the 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  263 

sleeping  cycle  of  Cathay  and  lead  that  hoary  na- 
tion to  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth."  ^ 

Attempts  to  Reject  Christian  Source.  Curiously 
enough  the  moral  energy  already  communicated  to 
the  East  is  arousing  many  attempts  to  utilize  the 
energy  and  reject  its  source.  All  the  great  ethnic 
religions  are  now  stirred  to  reforms  from  within. 
They  seize  upon  the  Christian  method  of  organiza- 
tion, only  changing  the  label.  A  social  service 
league  has  been  organized  in  the  Marathi  field,  de- 
voted simply  to  human  uplift,  and  including  in  its 
membership  Mohammedans,  Hindus,  and  Parsees. 
Mr.  Gokhale,  one  of  the  foremost  of  present  Indian 
leaders,  organized  in  1905  the  "  Servants  of  India 
Society."  He  invited  to  enter  it  all  young  men 
who  wished  to  make  the  service  of  their  country 
the  supreme  end  of  their  life,  and  he  required  them 
to  take  vows  that,  without  distinction  of  caste  or 
creed,  they  would  regard  all  Indians  as  brothers. 
The  headquarters  of  the  society  is  at  Poona,  where 
the  grounds  cover  twenty  acres.  There  are  branches 
in  four  other  cities.  By  means  of  lectures  on  first 
aid,  sanitation,  nursing,  by  means  of  traveling 
libraries  and  personal  service,  it  is  hoped  to  neu- 
tralize Christian  advance  and  demonstrate  that  In- 
dia can  reform  from  within. 

Somaj  Movements.     The  work  of  the  Brahmo- 

Somaj  has  long  been  known  through  its  founder, 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  and  its  later  leader,  Mazoom- 

dar.    The  more  recent  Arya-Somaj  is  a  much  more 

'  The  Japanese  Nation,  305. 


264       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

aggressive  and  radical  body.  In  the  last  thirty  years 
it  has  acquired  250,000  members,  chiefly  from  the 
upper  classes,  all  protesting  against  outstanding 
social  evils.  It  is  hostile  to  Christianity  in  every 
form,  but  at  the  same  time  ridicules  popular  idola- 
try and  superstition,  and  is  striking  powerful  blows 
at  child  marriage,  perpetual  widowhood,  at  sturdy 
beggars  in  the  guise  of  saints,  and  at  the  denial 
of  human  brotherhood  to  fifty  millions  of  India's 
people.  A  social  conscience  is  developing  even 
among  the  proudest  of  the  Brahmans.  They  are 
beginning  to  protest  against  some  of  the  more  vio- 
lent abuses  of  their  own  religion — such  as  the  sell- 
ing of  little  girls  into  the  outrageous  service  of 
idol  temples.  The  followers  of  Swami  Vivekananda, 
who  was  once  a  familiar  figure  in  America,  still 
hold  together  in  India  and  preach  the  New  Vedan- 
tism — a  blending  of  Hindu  philosophy  and  Chris- 
tian ethics,  which  is  at  least  a  mark  of  the  tran- 
sition era.  The  native  newspapers  apologize  for 
social  abuses  in  which  once  they  gloried,  and  ap- 
prove many  a  reform  which  once  seemed  to  them 
an  attack  on  all  that  was  holy.  They  are  becoming 
aware,  at  last,  that  holiness  and  righteousness  have 
some  connection — a  truth  to  which  India  has  al- 
ways been  blind.  The  Indian  gods  have  always 
been  outside  morality,  and  hence  the  priests  and 
holy  men  have  been  outside,  also.  Now  there  is 
being  gradually  introduced  the  earth-shaking  con- 
ception that  a  good  man  must  do  good,  and  that 
religion  must  actually  care  for  human  welfare  now 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  265 

and  here.  These  attempts  at  rehgious  house-clean- 
ing on  the  part  of  Indian  leaders  are  full  of  encour- 
agement. Bitter  as  these  leaders  are  toward  Chris- 
tianity, they  yet  are  marching,  against  their  will, 
toward  the  Christian  world-view.  Rejecting  Christ 
and  holding  to  Krishna,  they  are  doing  the  deeds  of 
Christ  in  Krishna's  name. 

Reform  Efforts  in  China.  Equally  hopeful  is  the 
splendid  struggle  in  China  of  the  whole  nation 
against  the  opium  curse,  against  foot-binding,  and 
gambling,  and  graft  on  the  part  of  public  officials. 
These  reforms  are  often  urged  by  those  who  hope 
thereby  to  conserve  Confucianism,  and  save  it  from 
disintegration  as  the  national  religion.  But  when 
Confucianists  are  roused  to  put  in  practise  the  best 
ideals  of  their  own  heritage,  all  Christians  must 
rejoice.  China  is  fairly  bristling  with  organiza- 
tions for  political  and  social  changes.  One  Chris- 
tian meeting,  addressed  by  Mr.  Eddy,  was  attended 
by  members  of  seventy-two  different  reform  socie- 
ties that  have  recently  sprung  into  existence  in  the 
city  of  Foochow.^ 

Effect  of  East  upon  West.  And  what  has  the 
East  to  contribute  to  the  West?  Will  there  come 
in  the  twentieth  century  Eastern  magi  bearing 
gifts?  That  Christianity  will  be  itself  enriched 
through  its  own  heroic  enterprise,  through  its  mar- 
tyrdoms and  sacrifices,  goes  without  saying.  Chris- 
tianity has  become  far  less  introspective,  less  specu- 
lative, more  virile,  more  courageous,  through  its 
*  Sherwood  Eddy,  The  New  Era  in  Asia,  25. 


266       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

dramatic  march  around  the  globe.  Through  the 
sailing  of  the  four  young  men  who  met  in  the  hay- 
stack prayer-meeting  at  Williamstown  a  century 
ago,  there  came  a  new  lease  of  life  to  all  the 
churches  of  America.  When  we  pluck  the  pansies 
in  our  gardens,  we  find  that  for  each  flower  plucked 
several  more  bloom  the  next  day.  Consider  the 
pansies  how  they  grow,  for  the  Kingdom  grows  in 
tht  same  way. 

Danger  of  Contraction.  The  quickest  way  to 
paralyze  the  Christianity  of  America  is  to  shut  it 
up  into  itself,  to  meditate  on  its  own  short-comings 
and  spend  its  great  energies  in  self-improvement. 
An  invalid  is  a  man  whose  gaze  is  fixed  on  his  own 
health  rather  than  on  his  task.  An  invalid  church 
is  one  that  spends  its  time  in  paying  its  own  ex- 
penses, filling  its  own  pews,  and  listening  to  its 
own  music.  A  healthy  church  is  one  that  steadily 
reaches  outward — as  a  diver  uses  the  spring-board 
to  project  himself  beyond  it.  Paradoxical  as  it  may 
seem, — but  every  student  of  human  nature  under- 
stands it, — a  church  that  stays  at  home  soon  loses 
the  home  in  which  it  stays.  A  religion  that  loses 
its  life  shall  find  it.  A  religion  that  has  had  a  mes- 
sage for  Americans  only  is  not  great  enough  for 
America.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  " — not  the 
little  section  of  it  where  we  happen  to  live.  Ameri- 
can Christianity  must  not  be  a  Dead  Sea  with  many 
tributaries  and  no  outlet,  but  an  outward  flowing 
stream  so  that  "  everything  shall  live  whithersoever 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  267 

the  river  cometh."  Its  present  power  is  derived 
largely  from  its  v^orld-wide  vision. 

Enlarged  Horizon.  A  largeness  of  horizon,  a 
breadth  of  sympathy,  a  many-sided  comprehension 
of  truth,  come  to  us  when  Orient  and  Occident  unite 
in  Christian  fellowship.  "  Because  of  what  the 
missionaries  have  taught  us  in  regard  to  Eastern 
races,"  says  Dr.  James  L.  Barton,  "  we  have  begun 
seriously  to  revise  our  thinking  and  our  language 
with  reference  to  these  peoples.  We  have  come  to 
recognize  their  intellectual  and  spiritual  equip- 
ment. .  .  .  We  have  sent  our  missionaries  to  work 
for  the  people  of  the  East,  and  are  now  learning 
that  when  they  come  to  know  the  Christ  in  his 
quickening  love  and  power  a  partnership  results  in 
which  new  and  potent  forces  are  joined  for  greater 
conquest.  We  have  learned  that  we  may  be  co- 
workers together  with  them  in  the  accomplishment 
of  the  task  that  once  w^e  thought  wholly  our  own."  ^ 

Oriental  Lives  of  Christ.  But  more  than  this  is 
true.  Certain  elements  of  character,  certain  in- 
sights into  reality,  may  be  possessed  by  the  Orient 
in  richer  measure  than  by  us,  and  may  never  reach 
us  except  through  the  contacts  established  by 
missions.  The  inner  spiritual  growth  of  the  Church 
in  the  Book  of  Acts  is  quite  as  obvious  as  the  ex- 
pansion of  its  territory.  That  first  council  in 
Jerusalem  showed  that  the  new  faith  was  still  cling- 
ing to  Judaism,  and  we  are  amazed  at  the  decree 
that  no  disciple  might  eat  things  "  strangled."  But 
^  Human  Progress  Through  Missons,  82. 


268       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

the  whole  narrative  of  the  Acts  gives  us  the  sense 
of  being  in  a  boat  sailing  out  of  a  narrov^r  creek  into 
the  open  sea.  At  a  later  period  Christianity  came 
into  contact  v^ith  Greek  philosophy  and  borrowed 
from  it  the  idea  of  the  Logos,  or  Word  of  God. 
Later  it  conquered  the  Roman  Empire,  and  adopted 
from  it  conceptions  of  the  universal  divine  gov- 
ernment, which  have  endured  until  our  own  time. 
When  Mazoomdar  a  few  years  ago  wrote  his  life 
of  Christ,  it  was  wholly  different  from  any  West- 
ern life  of  our  Lord.  In  1912  Professor  Torano- 
suke  Yamada  of  the  Methodist  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  Japan  published  a  life  of  Christ — a  solid 
volume  of  nearly  a  thousand  pages — quite  different 
in  its  conceptions  from  any  Western  life  of  our 
Lord,  yet  filled  with  unquestioning  loyalty.  As  new 
lives  of  Christ  are  written  by  Eastern  Christians, 
new  commentaries,  new  theologies,  new  treatises  on 
Christian  ethics  and  Christian  ideals,  what  will  be 
the  gift  of  the  Orient  to  our  common  apprehension 
of  Christian  truth? 

Fresh  Phases  of  Biblical  Interpretation.  Un- 
doubtedly the  Orient  will  give  us  a  fresh  interpreta- 
tion of  some  parts  of  our  Bible  that  to  us  are  still 
obscure.  ''  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil  "  is  a  com- 
mand which  has  caused  our  Western  commentators 
no  end  of  trouble,  and  their  attempted  explana- 
tions would  be  humorous  if  they  were  not 
tragic.  Yet  to  millions  of  Indian  ''  saints  "  that 
ideal  is  intelligible  and  congenial.  ''  Be  not  anxious 
for  the  morrow  "  is  a  precept  exemplified  for  gen- 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  269 

erations  by  the  leaders  of  Asiatic  life.  May  it  not 
be  that  our  prosaic  Western  intellect  needs  to  ac- 
quire the  patient  brooding  calm  of  the  East  before 
we  can  be  fully  equipped  for  Biblical  study?  Are 
there  not  some  things  hidden  from  lexicon  and 
grammar  and  revealed  unto  minds  at  peace  ?  Shall 
not  the  lands  that  produced  the  Bible  produce  the 
best  interpreters  of  the  Bible? 

Passive  Virtues  and  Contemplative  Life.  The 
East  will  undoubtedly  give  us  a  fresh  emphasis  on 
the  passive  virtues  and  on  the  contemplative  life. 
It  v/ill  persuade  us  that  the  strenuous  life  is  not 
the  only  life  that  is  noble.  It  will  help  us  to  turn 
at  times  from  the  clangor  of  Kipling  and  his  school, 
and  listen  to  Wordsworth's  declaration : 

"  That  we  can  feed  these  minds  of  ours 
In  a  wise  passiveness." 

Emphasis  on  Prayer-life.  The  East  will  bid  us 
*'  enter  into  thine  inner  chamber  "  when  Western 
teachers  are  bidding  us  enter  the  market,  the  slums, 
the  factory,  the  voting-booth.  The  East  will  teach 
us  how  to  pray,  as  truly  as  the  West  has  taught  us 
how  to  strive.  There  is  an  intense  spirituality 
among  many  Oriental  Christians  which  even  now 
affects  their  teachers.  Their  faith  is  not  argument, 
but  intuition ;  not  eager  for  outer  conquest,  but  for 
inner  harmony;  and  in  quietness  and  confidence  is 
their  strength.  A  native  Christian  teacher,  Profes- 
sor R.  Siraj-ud-din,  of  the  Forman  Christian  Col- 
lege  in   Lahore,   has   said :   "  To   my   mind,   the   first 


270       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

and  foremost  lesson  of  Islam  to  Western  Christian- 
ity, and  in  fact  of  the  East  generally  to  the  West 
(for  Hinduism  and  Buddhism  are  also  distinctly  de- 
votional), is  that  of  the  importance  of  the  devo- 
tional prayer-life  in  the  Protestant  Church." 

Poems  of  Tagore.  The  great  Nobel  prize  for  the 
finest  work  in  the  literature  of  idealism  has  been 
recently  awarded  to  the  Bengali  poet,  Rabindranath 
Tagore,  whose  name  is  repeated  with  love  and  rev- 
erence by  millions  in  the  delta  of  the  Ganges  and 
on  the  slopes  of  the  Himalayas.  His  poems,  trans- 
lated into  lyrical  English  by  himself,  are  now  wing- 
ing their  way  through  the  Western  world.  And 
always  the  message  is  the  same — the  need  of  inner 
vision,  of  detachment  from  the  sensuous,  of  union 
with  the  infinite,  the  boundless  wealth  of  the  soul 
that  possesses  God.  In  one  of  those  poems  he  pic- 
tures himself  as  slowly  parting  with  all  external 
possessions  and  still  remaining  ineffably  rich.  He 
describes  himself  as  coming  from  the  market  when 
'*  the  selling  had  been  done  and  the  buying," — as 
crossing  the  river  and  paying  the  ferryman  his  fee, 
— as  giving  his  brother,  the  beggar,  a  gift, — as 
"  when  the  night  grows  dark  and  the  road  lonely," 
encountering  robbers.  ''  It  was  midnight  when  I 
reached  home.  My  hands  were  empty.  Thou 
[God]  wast  alone  with  anxious  eyes  at  my  door, 
sleepless  and  silent.  Like  a  timorous  bird  thou 
didst  fly  to  my  breast  with  eager  love.  Ay,  ay,  my 
God,  much  remains  still  to  my  share.    My  fate  has 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  271 

not  cheated  me  of  my  all."  ^  When  minds  capable 
of  such  vision  shall  come  to  see  God  in  Christ,  the 
whole  world  will  be  enriched.  Our  banks  and 
warehouses  will  pale  into  insignificance,  our  huge 
and  noisy  and  restless  schemes  seem  quite  trivial, 
when  such  minds  shall  begin  to  interpret  the  mean- 
ing of  ''  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave." 

A  Deeper  Reverence.  Unquestionably  a  Chris- 
tianized Orient  will  give  to  us  of  the  Occident  a 
deeper  reverence, — for  parents,  for  old  age,  for  the 
years  that  are  past.  The  disrespect  of  young  Amer- 
ica for  parents  is  proverbial.  The  epithets  many  a 
Western  boy  applies  to  his  father,  with  no  evil 
intent,  would  in  the  Orient  sound  like  utter  repudia- 
tion of  family  ties.  The  very  affection  of  our  chil- 
dren is  ashamed  to  utter  itself.  They  no  longer 
"  rise  up  before  the  hoary  head,"  but  stare  at  it 
as  a  curiosity  and  relic.  Our  whole  nation  in  the 
exuberance  of  its  youth  faces  toward  the  future, 
and  finds  the  past  merely  quaint  or  tedious.  Our 
civilization  is  broad,  but  not  deep,  intensely  busy  in 
small  and  transient  matters,  and  regardless  of 
yesterday. 

Honoring  Parents.  But  the  older  nations  of  the 
East  have  learned  wisdom.  In  Japanese  history 
and  drama  the  one  great  theme,  which  never  fails 
to  bring  tears  to  the  reader  or  the  spectator,  is 
the  devotion  of  a  son  to  his  mother.  In  China  the 
most  sacred  of  all  duties  is  performed  before  the 
ancestral  tablets.  In  India  the  *'  elders  "  of  the 
^  The  Indian  Interpreter,  October,  1913. 


2^2        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

village  community  demand  and  receive  universal 
respect.  Some  day  we  of  the  West  will  emerge 
from  the  brashness  and  pertness  which  now  make 
us  seem  to  the  older  peoples  so  juvenile  and  un- 
trained. Certainly  wherever  a  nation  has  truly 
honored  father  and  mother  its  days  have  been  long 
in  the  land,  as  China  and  Egypt  bear  witness. 
When  East  and  West  clasp  hands  in  a  common 
Christian  faith,  our  ceaseless  striving  for  novelty 
will  be  finely  supplemented  by  Eastern  reverence 
for  established  institutions  and  ripened  character. 
"  Not  that  the  Christian  ethic  needs  supplement- 
ing," says  a  modern  prophet,  "  and  that  the  ideal 
of  the  future  is  to  be  an  amalgam  of  elements 
derived  from  various  faiths;  but  the  spirit  of  Christ 
will  find  less  to  do  along  certain  lines  in  perfecting 
the  adherents  of  some  of  the  ethnic  religions  than 
he  discovers  in  many  of  us,  the  products  of  gen- 
erations of  imperfectly  applied  Christianity."  ^ 

Christianity  to  Be  Made  Native  in  the  East.  But 
all  this  implies  that  Christianity  on  the  foreign  field 
must  not  remain  a  ''  foreigners'  religion."  It  must 
be  indigenous,  or  it  will  pass  away.  If  it  be  treated 
as  a  precious  exotic  imported  from  the  West,  to 
be  forever  guarded  and  controlled  and  molded  by 
Western  hands,  it  will  fail.  Self-supporting,  self- 
governing,  self -propagating  churches  on  the  for- 
eign field  constitute  the  goal  of  all  wise  effort.  The 
churches  that  are  kept  in  leading-strings  will  never 

^  Henry  Sloan  Coffin,  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol. 
IX,  History,  RecordSy  and  Addresses,  167. 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  273 

get  beyond  ecclesiastical  infancy.  Only  through  ex- 
ercise of  freedom  can  any  people  become  worthy  of 
it.  A  Chinese  preacher  has  recently  been  asking 
why  his  church  is  called  ''  English,"  when  his  coun- 
try would  not  submit  to  the  appellation.  Equally 
strange  and  difficult  to  explain  may  be  the  title 
"  German  Lutheran  "  for  a  church  in  Africa,  or 
''  Dutch  Reformed  "  for  a  church  in  India.  We 
may  well  be  thankful  that  the  very  language  of  our 
sectarianism  is  meaningless  to  the  regions  beyond. 
Such  titles  are  a  foreign  brand  imposed  upon  a 
native  church,  and  may  involve  a  perpetual  expec- 
tation of  foreign  support  and  foreign  methods  and 
foreign  control.  Gothic  architecture  imposed  upon 
an  Indian  church,  or  a  New  England  meeting-house 
in  a  Chinese  village — these  are  sad,  but  familiar, 
sights  to  the  traveler.  A  sound  philosophy  of  mis- 
sions will  insist  that  Chinese  Christians  shall  build 
in  Chinese  fashion,  and  that  the  Indian  Christians 
shall  not  ignore  the  fine  architectural  motives  of 
their  race.  And  what  is  far  more  important,  it 
will  insist  that  native  social  traditions,  methods,  and 
ideals,  so  far  as  they  are  not  antichristian,  shall  be 
carefully  conserved  and  made  the  basis  of  local 
church  development.  Is  it  true  that ''  we  have  more 
Europeanized  than  Christianized  the  Kaffirs,  to 
their  loss,  and  to  the  church's  loss  ?  "  ^  But  we 
were  sent  to  disciple  the  nations,  not  to  denation- 
alize them. 

'  Edinburgrh   Conference  Report,  Vol.   IX,    History,   Rec- 
ords, and  Addresses,  221. 


274       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Oriental  Independence  of  Thought.  The  secre- 
tary of  one  of  our  Foreign  Mission  Societies,  in 
reporting  a  recent  conference  of  American  mis- 
sionaries and  Chinese  Christians,  says :  "  It  was 
clear  that  the  Chinese  leaders  will  insist  on  mak- 
ing their  own  interpretation  of  Christianity.  While 
they  recognize  the  value  of  learning  all  they  can 
from  the  creeds  and  the  theological  systems  of  the 
West,  they  will  do  their  own  thinking.  This  is  an 
encouraging  sign.  The  success  of  the  Christian 
missionary  effort  is  not  in  proportion  to  the  readi- 
ness of  docile  men  to  accept  unchallenged  the  theo- 
logical systems  of  the  West.  We  shall  succeed  more 
largely  if,  while  we  encourage  independent  spirits 
in  every  land  to  learn  all  they  can  from  us,  we 
also  teach  them  that  it  is  their  privilege  to  interpret 
Christ  for  themselves.  Surely  Orientals  have  a 
contribution  to  make  to  the  world's  understanding 
of  the  Savior  whose  life  was  lived  in  the  Orient. 
It  is  not  strange  that  in  this  day  of  national  self- 
consciousness  the  Chinese  leaders  should  begin  to 
see  that  the  responsibility  for  Chinese  evangeliza- 
tion rests  upon  the  Chinese  Christians,  and  that 
they  must  be  given  a  free  hand  to  work  out  their 
own  destiny."  ^ 

Plea  for  Doctrinal  Initiative.  The  foremost  mis- 
sionaries of  India  fully  share  this  conviction  of 
the  rightfulness  and  necessity  of  encouraging 
Oriental  churches  to  think  out  their  own  problems. 
The  Yearbook  of  Missions  in  India  affirms 
*J.   H.   Franklin,   Watchman-Examiner,   September    ii,    1913- 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  275 

their  attitude  as  follows :  ''  Then,  and  then  only, 
will  the  Church  of  God  in  India  appeal  with  stir- 
ring might  and  with  largest  success  to  the  people 
of  this  land,  when  it  shall  present  Christ  from  the 
mystical  Eastern  view-point.  .  .  .  What  w^e  need 
is  a  baptism  of  poAver  upon  the  [native]  Church 
which  will  enable  it  to  advance  in  this  matter  of 
intellectual  self-assertion  and  doctrinal  initiative, 
in  order  that  Christ  and  his  divine  truth  may  come 
to  the  people  in  a  way  that  will  most  strongly  grip 
them  and  find  their  hearty  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual response."  ^ 

Eastern  Churches  Made  Autonomous.  In  har- 
mony with  this  view  a  number  of  the  most  active 
societies  and  Churches  have  released  from  all  West- 
ern control  the  Churches  they  have  planted,  as  a 
father  sends  out  his  son  to  an  independent  career. 
In  some  cases  this  may  have  been  done  too  early, 
before  the  capacity  for  self-direction  has  been  ac- 
quired, and  the  results  have  been  disastrous — as  if  a 
father  should  dismiss  his  child  in  infancy.  But 
if  a  church  after  fifty  years  is  still  an  infant,  need- 
ing foreign  feeding  and  foreign  nursing,  we  surely 
ought  to  study  ecclesiastical  eugenics,  and  see  that 
future  churches  are  better  born.  The  sensitive  spirit 
of  the  Japanese  is  naturally  eager  for  self-guidance, 
and  the  Methodist  Church  in  Japan  has  since  1907 
been  an  independent  body.  The  Kumi-ai  churches 
of  Japan,  planted  by  American  Congregationalists, 
and  those  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  planted  by  sev- 
*  1912,  p.  221. 


276       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

eral  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  bodies,  have  long 
been  free  from  American  control,  but  in  close  fel- 
lowship and  cooperation  with  the  missionaries  from 
the  West.  More  and  more  this  multiplication  of 
independent  churches  from  the  parent  stock  will 
occur,  and  such  growth  of  Christian  initiative,  self- 
respect,  and  self-direction  is  one  of  the  clearest 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  a  vital  faith  among  the 
members/ 

Self-support.  When  the  native  church  has  self- 
government,  it  can  hardly  fail  to  recognize  the  duty 
of  self-support.  When  we  open  the  Book  of  Acts 
we  see  that  every  church  planted  by  the  apostles 
was  from  the  beginning  a  self-supporting  body. 
The  home  base  in  Jerusalem,  or  Antioch,  furnished 
counsel  when  asked  for,  sent  out  its  choicest  spirits 
on  long  journeys,  but  never  sent  money  to  any  new 
church.  On  the  contrary,  the  new  churches  all 
around  the  Mediterranean  Sea  sent  their  contribu- 
tions to  the  mother  church  in  Jerusalem  in  her  time 


^  The  National  Conference  of  Missionaries  and  Chinese 
Christians  held  in  Shanghai  in  March,  1913,  adopted,  among 
many  significant  resolutions,  the  following:  "This  Conference 
rejoices  that  the  churches  in  China,  for  the  most  part,  have 
been  organized  as  self  governing  bodies,  and  believes  that  in 
respect  of  form  and  organization,  they  should  have  freedom  to 
develop  in  accord  with  the  most  natural  expression  of  the 
spiritual  instincts  of  Chinese  Christians.  .  .  .  The  responsi- 
bility for  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  nation,  and  the  chief 
place  in  carrying  out  the  task,  must  be  assigned  to  the  Chinese 
churches.  We  believe  that  they  will  gladly  welcome  the  full- 
est cooperation  and  assistance  which  the  foreign  rnissions  can 
give  them.  In  the  main,  China  must  be  evangehzed  by  the 
Chinese." 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  277 

of  need.  The  wrong  use  of  foreign  money  has  pre- 
vented many  a  native  church  from  growing  up. 
That  money  is  sorely  needed  for  the  evangeHzation 
and  training  of  peoples  still  unreached.  We  are 
now  returning  to  the  early  Christian  method,  and 
in  the  new  missions  self-support  is  inculcated  as  a 
primary  duty.  The  converts  paid  heavily  enough 
for  their  paganism.  They  were  severely  taxed  for 
idolatrous  temples,  processions,  ceremonies.  Shall 
they  now  be  allowed  to  think  their  expenses  can  be 
assumed  by  wealthy  Christians  beyond  the  sea? 
That  idea,  once  adopted,  can  be  guaranteed  to  pro- 
duce gelatinous  character  in  the  individual,  and 
chronic  infancy  in  the  church. 

Native  Leadership.  Out  of  self-government  and 
self-support  is  now  coming  the  great  desideratum 
— native  leadership.  Among  the  humble  pariahs 
and  outcastes  it  may  be  difficult  to  develop  inde- 
pendence of  thought  or  action,  but  even  there  it  is 
not  impossible.  Recently  the  first  Anglican  bishop 
has  been  ordained  in  India — Bishop  V.  S.  Azariah. 
Born  in  Tinnevelli,  among  an  outcaste  group  of 
devil-worshipers,  he  has  been  for  twenty  years 
steadily  developing  in  organizing  ability,  without 
losing  his  native  gift  of  spiritual  insight.  ''  His 
letters,"  says  one  of  his  intimate  American  friends, 
**  help  me  more  than  any  other  writings  save  the 
letters  of  the  apostle  Paul,  and  drive  me  to  my 
knees."  If  from  such  lowly  origin  can  come  a  flam- 
ing apostle,  worthy  to  stand  beside  any  English 
bishop,  what  might  we  not  expect  from  a  Christian 


278        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Brahman,     a     Christian     mandarin,     a    Christian 
samurai  ? 

Movement  toward  Unity.  Another  development 
on  the  foreign  field  which  must  powerfully  influence 
the  home  churches  is  the  widespread  and  irresistible 
movement  toward  Christian  unity.  In  our  own 
land  the  union  of  all  that  profess  and  call  them- 
selves Christians  is  hindered  by  the  misunderstand- 
ings and  controversies  of  a  long  historic  develop- 
ment. Our  creeds  are  "scarred  with  tokens  of  old 
wars."  Nearly  every  chapter  in  the  Bible  has  been 
a  battle-field,  and  the  smoke  of  the  famous  con- 
flicts is  still  about  us.  But  the  converts  on  the  for- 
eign field  know  nothing — thank  God — of  this  long 
and  painful  struggle.  To  them  there  is  neither 
Greek  nor  Jew,  Barbarian  nor  Scythian,  Calvinist 
nor  Arminian,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all.  They 
cannot  see — even  if  we  can — why  the  distinction  be- 
tween Northern  and  Southern  Churches,  brought 
about  by  American  slavery,  should  be  perpetuated 
under  Oriental  skies.  In  their  simplicity  they 
imagine  that  all  followers  of  Christ  can  live  in 
fellowship;  and  they  are  not  greatly  concerned  with 
our  historic  labels.  They  are  forced  together  by 
crying  needs  and  pressing  dangers  which  threaten 
their  very  existence.  They  see  that  if  every  West- 
ern Church  that  sends  missionaries  abroad  shall 
attempt  to  establish  in  every  continent,  in  every 
nation  and  every  province,  its  own  separate  equip- 
ment of  schools,  churches,  hospitals,  printing- 
presses,  and  native  literature,  the  result  must  be 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  279 

ruinous  waste  of  resources,  unchristian  competition, 
incessant  conflict.  Consequently  in  various  ways — 
by  conferences,  by  federations,  by  union  efforts,  and 
sometimes  by  actual  blending  of  the  churches,  they 
are  getting  together. 

Institutional  Consolidation.  In  the  establishment 
of  "  language  schools,"  where  missionaries,  newly 
arrived,  can  study  the  language  under  skilled  native 
teachers,  there  is  no  difficulty.  In  a  union  language 
school  at  Nanking  missionaries  of  all  denomina- 
tions are  studying  the  Chinese  language,  and  what 
is  hardly  less  important,  Chinese  etiquette.  In  the 
publishing  of  hymn-books,  of  Sunday-school 
"  helps,"  and  of  much  religious  literature,  union 
effort  means  vast  saving  of  labor  and  expense.  In 
the  establishment  of  medical  work  it  is  clearly  worse 
than  useless  for  several  denominations  in  one  prov- 
ince to  have  separate  hospitals  and  dispensaries. 
A  denominational  medical  school  would  be  absurd. 
In  schools  and  colleges  for  academic  or  industrial 
training,  unity  is  the  watchword  of  present  effort. 
Japan  is  working  for  a  Japanese  Christian  university, 
with  no  recognition  of  Western  divisions.  Egypt 
is  calling  for  the  same  thing.  In  the  report  of  the 
South  China  Conference  of  Missionaries,  held  at 
Canton  in  February,  1913,  under  the  presidency  of 
Dr.  Mott,  we  see  this  significant  ''  finding  " :  "  In- 
asmuch as  the  middle  schools  and  colleges  are 
located  in  large  cities  occupied  by  missions  in  com- 
mon, and  as  the  cost  of  maintaining  such  colleges 
as  are  absolutely  essential  is  beyond  the  reach  of 


28o       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

a  single  mission,  and  inasmuch  as  the  sciences 
taught  in  these  schools  are  incapable  of  sectarian 
interpretation,  we  recommend  union  in  all  such 
work.  .  .  .  Inasmuch  as  the  provision  for  train- 
ing of  the  highest  type  is  beyond  the  ability  of  any 
one  mission,  we  recommend  union  theological  in- 
struction, wherever  practicable.  Where  such  union 
has  been  attempted,  theological  differences  have  not 
caused  complications." 

Merging  Centers.  And  union  in  work  will  in  due 
time  become  union  in  fellowship.  This  cannot  be 
forced  either  in  Asia  or  America,  but  the  move- 
ment toward  Christian  unity  is  to-day  far  more 
powerful  on  the  foreign  field  than  it  is  with  us 
at  home.  The  ''  South  India  United  Church  "  was 
founded  in  1908,  and  is  an  actual  organic  union 
of  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  and  Reformed 
Churches.  This  new  organization  borrowed  its  con- 
stitution and  rules  largely  from  the  ''  Church  of 
Christ  in  Japan,"  formed  about  thirty  years  earlier. 
The  South  India  United  Church  includes  130  or- 
ganized local  churches,  grouped  in  nine  councils, 
with  a  membership  of  nearly  30,000  communicants. 
The  influence  of  this  movement  has  been  felt 
throughout  India.  An  interdenominational  confer- 
ence was  held  at  Jabalpur  in  1909,  embracing  dele- 
gates from  a  dozen  different  denominations.  At  a 
second  meeting  in  191 1  the  delegates  adopted  a  plan 
for  the  *'  federation  of  the  churches  "  throughout 
India,  and  that  plan  is  fast  gaining  acceptance.  It 
is  a  definite  attempt  at  ''  fostering  and  encouraging 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  281 

the  sentiment  and  practise  of  union,"  and  already 
has  achieved  large  results.  Thus  on  the  oldest  of 
our  mission  fields  Christian  unity  is  making  rapid 
strides. 

Outreach  for  One  Church  in  China.  In  Japan 
and  China  the  sentiment  for  unity  is  almost  irre- 
sistible. The  example  of  India  spreads  by  a  sort 
of  international  contagion.  The  "  West  China 
Christian  Church  "  is  projected  along  broad  and  in- 
clusive lines.  The  Presbyterian  Churches  of  China 
have  come  together.  The  Episcopal  Churches  have 
all  united.  And  nov^  there  is  an  urgent  call  for 
cooperation,  for  federation,  and  for  more  than  that, 
— for  a  great  "  Christian  Church  of  China."  In  the 
South  China  Conference,  to  which  we  have  already 
alluded,  the  missionaries  voted  this  declaration: 
"  We  recognize  that  the  Chinese  Church,  both  as 
regards  her  leaders  and  the  majority  of  her  mem- 
bership, is  strongly  in  favor  of  one  Church  open 
to  all  Christians,  and  is  making  a  more  or  less  con- 
scious effort  to  realize  that  aim.  This  does  not 
mean  that  there  will  be  a  uniform  statement  of  faith, 
or  identity  in  forms  of  worship,  or  one  central 
Church  government,  but  an  attempt  to  make  this 
a  truly  Chinese  Church  which  in  all  its  constituent 
parts  will  comprehend  the  whole  Christian  life  of 
the  nation." 

The  Spirit  to  Guide.  The  missionaries  have  in- 
deed a  difficult  task  to  guide  the  strong  national 
spirit  of  republican  China,  as  it  expresses  itself  in 
the  demand  for  a  national  Church,  independent  of 


282       Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

Western  formulas  and  Western  management.  Will 
the  new  Church  slough  off  much  that  is  good  in  our 
Western  organization  and  formula?  Will  it  tend 
to  reduce  Christianity  to  an  ethical  system — a  bet- 
tered Confucianism?  Will  it  preserve  the  es- 
sentials? But  who  is  to  be  the  judge  of  essentials? 
— who  but  the  Chinese  Christians  themselves,  under 
the  leading  of  the  Spirit  that  guides  into  all  truth? 
"  Ye  are  the  body  of  Christ  "  is  quite  as  likely  to 
be  true  of  the  Christians  in  Peking  as  of  the  erring 
Corinthian  Christians  to  whom  it  was  first  written. 

Yellow  Leadership  instead  of  Yellow  Peril.  In 
this  very  independence  of  spirit  lies  the  hope  of 
swift  Christian  progress.  '*  Our  chief  duty  to  the 
Chinese  Christians,"  said  an  American  bishop  in 
Central  China,  ''  is  now  to  get  out  of  their  way." 
It  may  be  possible  in  "  changing  China,"  now  flexi- 
ble, even  fluid,  to  achieve  results  that  will  give  that 
people  at  no  distant  day  a  position  of  leadership  in 
the  Christian  world.  A  Christianized  China  would 
not  be  a  mere  submissive  appendage  of  Christianized 
Europe  or  America.  It  would  inevitably  forge  to 
the  front,  and  the  magnificent  industry,  endurance, 
and  solidity  of  the  Chinese  nature  would  make  the 
"  Christian  Church  of  China "  a  molding  power 
throughout  the  world.  If  China  is  Christianized, 
the  ''  yellow  peril  "  will  become  yellow  leadership, 
and  an  intellectual  power  equal  to  any  in  the  West 
will  be  harnessed  to  the  advancing  kingdom  of  God. 

Hastening  the  Coming  of  God's  Day.  The 
changes  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  both  in  the  Nearer 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  283 

and  the  Farther  East,  are  ahnost  incredible.  The 
maps  of  fifteen  years  ago  are  useless,  the  maps  of 
five  years  ago  defective  and  misleading.  Dynasties 
have  gone,  boundaries  have  been  effaced,  territories 
redistributed,  famous  names  blotted  from  the  map. 
"  When  God  wipes  out,"  said  Bossuet,  "  it  is  because 
he  is  getting  ready  to  write."  What  stupendous 
writing  do  such  vast  erasures  portend?  Changes 
are  not  always  gradual  and  unperceived.  Evolu- 
tion includes  both  "  line  upon  line  "  and  also  ava- 
lanche upon  avalanche.  W^e  are  not  merely  to  be 
*'  looking  for  and  earnestly  desiring  the  coming  of 
the  day  of  God,"  but,  as  the  marginal  reading  of  the 
Revised  Version  says,  "  hastening  the  coming  of  the 
day  of  God."  Our  human  effort  accelerates  the 
majestic  divine  process.  That  the  Kingdom  will 
assuredly  come,  we  know.  But  how  soon  it  shall 
come  is  for  us  to  say.  The  evolutionist  may 
want  ages  for  a  process  which  faith  can  bring  about 
in  a  few  years.  The  coming  of  the  Kingdom  may 
be  long  drawn  out  through  the  listlessness  and  chill 
of  human  hearts,  or  it  may  be  crowded  into  a  few 
years,  as  a  telescope  is  shut  up  into  itself.  It  took 
five  hundred  years  to  convert  the  British  Islands 
to  Christianity,  and  pagan  rites  lingered  for  centuries 
more  in  the  caves  and  mountains.  But  no  such  time 
is  needed  for  the  vaster  conquests  of  our  age.  The 
loom  of  time  has  been  speeded  up,  and  "the  gar- 
ment thou  seest  him  by  "  is  far  more  swiftly  woven. 
Moving  in  Rapid  Measures.  Alfred  Russell 
Wallace    in    The    Wonderful   Century    counts    up 


284        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

thirteen  great  inventions  or  discoveries  made  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  only  seven  in  all  preceding 
human  history.  Thirteen — like  the  sewing-machine 
and  the  telegraph — in  one  century,  and  but  seven — 
like  the  mariners'  compass  and  the  telescope — in 
all  the  millenniums  before.  Is  human  history,  like 
some  great  musical  overture  or  sonata,  to  pass,  with 
scarcely  a  pause,  from  adagio  to  presto,  and  crowd 
vast  meanings  into  rapid  measures?  It  is  not  for 
us  to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons,  but  it  is  for 
us  to  know  the  opportunity  and  the  responsibility. 
The  wide-open  world  should  produce  in  us  wide- 
open  minds  to  study  the  need,  and  wide-open  hearts 
to  feel  it.  It  is  no  petty  province  we  have  to  subdue, 
no  parochial  victory  we  seek.  It  is  nothing  less  than 
the  Christianization  of  all  human  lives  and  institu- 
tions— a  task  to  challenge  the  scholarship  and 
statesmanship  and  deathless  devotion  of  all 
Christendom.  The  superb  heroism  of  the  last  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  has  led  us  only  to  the  nearer 
edge  of  our  enterprise.  We  have  but  skirted  the 
coast  of  our  duty.  On  the  old  Spanish  coins,  is- 
sued in  the  days  before  Columbus,  was  a  picture  of 
the  pillars  of  Hercules,  at  the  straits  of  Gibraltar, 
and  beneath  them  the  motto :  ''  Ne  plus  ultra."  But 
when  the  great  voyages  had  been  made,  and  the  big- 
ness of  the  world  began  to  dawn  on  the  European 
mind,  the  coins  bore  the  same  picture  with  a  changed 
motto :  "  Plus  ultra  " — ''  More  beyond !  "  It  is  the 
vision  of  the  things  beyond  that  nerves  and  sum- 
mons us.     It  is  not  our  little  neighborhood  alone, 


Interchange  of  East  and  West  285 

our  city,  our  country,  that  beckons  us.  It  is  the 
call  of  humanity  itself — East  and  West,  black  and 
white,  brown  and  yellow, — all  bearing  the  tarnished 
image  and  superscription  of  God. 

"Have  the  elder  races  halted? 
Do  they   droop    and   end    their    lesson,   wearied   over   there 

beyond  the  seas? 
We  take  up  the  task  eternal,  and  the  burden  and  the  lesson, 
Pioneers  !  O  pioneers  ! 

"  Till  with  sound  of  trumpet 
Far,  far  off  the  daybreak  call — hark!  how  loud  and  clear  I 

hear  it  wind, 
Swift!  to  the  head  of  the  army! — swift!  spring  to  your  places, 
Pioneers  !  O  pioneers  !  " 

Made  Great  by  Great  Tasks.  Surely  large  men 
are  needed  for  so  great  a  task.  Men  ingenious, 
athletic,  versatile,  tireless,  courageous,  are  needed 
for  confronting  the  savages  of  Africa,  the  Moros 
in  the  Philippines,  the  head-hunters  of  Borneo.  Men 
of  learning,  high-bred  courtesy,  winsome  speech, 
far-reaching  plans,  are  needed  to  go  to  races  that 
were  building  palaces  when  our  fathers  were  build- 
ing log-cabins  around  Plymouth  Rock.  Men  of 
medical  skill,  women  trained  in  the  healing  art,  men 
and  women  of  penetrating  minds  and  indomitable 
patience  are  needed  to  enter  the  Moslem  world, 
which  is  to-day  as  closely  sealed  as  was  China  fifteen 
years  ago.  The  pioneers  of  Christianity  must  be 
great  men — or  made  great  by  their  task.  There  are 
thousands  of  young  men  and  women  in  America 
living  dull  and  petty  lives,  merely  because  devoted 


286        Social  Aspects  of  Foreign  Missions 

to  petty  things.  There  are  men  sitting  all  day  on 
a  three-legged  stool  who  might  be  founding  an 
empire.  There  are  women  "  pouring  tea "  all 
winter  who  might  be  lifting  hundreds  of  Oriental 
girls  into  new  womanhood.  There  are  able-bodied 
Americans  without  a  vision  or  a  task,  useless  as 
chips  on  the  stream,  when  they  might  be  directing 
the  main  currents  of  life  for  a  province  or  a  nation. 
Devotion  to  a  great  cause  makes  a  great  life. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


General 

Barton,  J.  L.  Human  Progress  through  Misstotis.  1912. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     50  cents,  net, 

A  survey  of  the  sociological,  industrial,  literary,  com- 
mercial, and  moral  results  of  missions. 

Brace,  C.  L.  Gesta  Christi.  1893.  A.  C.  Armstrong,  New 
York.    $1.50. 

Review  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  in  modifying 
social  conditions  in  the  Roman  Empire. 

Capen,  Edward  W.  Sociological  Progress  in  Mission  Lands. 
1914.     Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     $1.50. 

A  careful  study  showing  the  achievements  of  Christian 
missions  in  the  removal  of  ignorance  and  poverty  and  the 
uplift  of  womanhood  and  other  ethical  standards. 

Carver,  W.  O.  Missions  and  Modern  Thought.  1910.  Mac- 
millan  Company,  New  York.     $1.50. 

_  A_  thought-provoking  study  showing  that  the  present 
civilization  is  a  result  of  Christianity,  and  the  hope  of 
the  future  is  the  extension  of  Christianity.  Modern 
thought  demands  unity  of  Christian  forces,  charity  in 
theological  differences,  sane  methods,  careful  planning, 
and  generous  support. 

Dennis,  James  S.  The  Modern  Call  of  Missions.  1913. 
Fleming  H.   Revell   Company,   New  York.     $1.50. 

A  study  of  some  of  the  larger  aspects  of  missions  in 
relation  to  human  progress. 

Dennis,  James  S.  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress. 
Vol.  I,  1897;  Vol.  II,  1899;  Vol.  Ill,  1906.  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Company,  New  York.     $2.50  each. 

A  monumental  work,  superior  to  anything  ever  pub- 
lished on  the  social  problems  confronting  missions  and 
the  Christian  solutions  proposed  by  missionaries,  with  a 
most  remarkable  exhibit  of  the  success  attending  the 
work. 

Gore,  Charles.  "  Missions  and  the  Social  Question."  Article 
in  International  Review  of  Missions,  Vol.  I,  pp.  270-278. 
1912. 

287 


288  Bibliography 

Hall,  C.  C.  Christ  and  the  Human  Race.  1906.  Houghton 
Mifflin   Company,   Boston.     $1.25. 

The  Noble  lectures  for  1906  given  by  the  late  Presi- 
dent Hall;  discusses  the  attitude  of  Jesus  Christ  toward 
foreign  races  and  religions ;  reveals  Dr.  Hall's  wonderful 
insight  into  the  beliefs  of  Orientals. 

Headland,  I.  T.  Some  By-Products  of  Missions.  1912. 
Jennings   &   Graham,    Cincinnati.     $1.50,  net. 

Discusses  by-products  of  government,  trade,  science, 
civic  life,  music,  art,  peace,  and  religion. 

Henderson,  Prof.  Charles  S.  "  The  Modern  Approach."  Ar- 
ticle in  International  Review  of  Missions,  Vol.  H,  pp. 
765-772.     1913. 

Jones,  J.  P.  The  Modern  Missionary  Challenge.  1910. 
Fleming  H,  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.50. 

The  author  discusses  new  conditions,  new  problems, 
new  methods,  new  ideals,  the  magnitude  of  the  task,  and 
the  new  response  of  the  Church  to  the  missionary  chal- 
lenge. 

Keen,  \V.  W.  The  Service  of  Missions  to  Science  and  So- 
ciety. 1908.  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society, 
Boston.     10  cents. 

A  condensed  and  stimulating  survey  of  the  social 
achievements  of   foreign   missionary  work. 

Knox,  G.  W.  The  Spirit  of  the  Orient.  1906.  T.  Y.  Crowell 
&  Co.,  New  York.    $1.50. 

An  interpretation  of  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  the 
Orient,  first  by  contrast  with  the  spirit  of  the  West,  and 
then  by  an  examination  in  turn  of  the  people  and  customs 
and  the  spirit  and  problems  of  India,  China,  and  Japan. 

Liggins,  J.     Great   Value  and  Success  of  Foreign  Missions. 

1888.     Baker  &  Taylor   Company,   New  York.     75   cents. 

Contains  many  striking  arguments  and  incidents  to  show 

the  benefits  of  foreign  missions.     It  was   for  some  time 

a  handbook  for  speakers  on  missions. 

Lindsay,  Anna  R.  Gloria  Christi.  1907.  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, New  York.     50  cents. 

Covers  the  wide  field  of  social  progress  and  missions, 
though  necessarily  in  a  cursory  way;  prepared  as  a  text- 
book for  study  classes. 

Lucas,  Bernard.  The  Empire  of  Christ.  1907.  Macmillan 
Company,  New  York.     80  cents. 

An  examination  of  present  missionary  methods  and  ob- 
jectives; throws  the  emphasis  strongly  on  the  gospel's 
mission  to  pervade  and  transform  society  as  distinguished 
from  the  gaining  of  individual  converts;  will  appeal  to 


Bibliography  289 

thinkers  of  the  liberal  school;  written  by  an  experienced 

missionary  in  India. 

Mackenzie,  \V.  D.  Chnstianity  and  the  Progress  of  Man. 
1897.  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.  $2.00. 
(Out  of  print.) 

A  strong  apologetic  for  missions,  based  on  the  social 
influence  of  Christianity;  describes  the  message  and 
methods  and  results  of  modern  missions. 

Paton,  Bunting,  and  Garvie.  Christ  and  Civilization.  igi2. 
National  Council  of  Evangelical  Free  Churches,  Memorial 
Hall,  London,  E.  C.     los.  6d. 

Chapter  V,  "  The  Factors  in  the  Expansion  of  the 
Christian  Church,"  by  Dr.  Orr,  and  Chapter  VI,  "The 
Social  Influence  of  Christianity  as  Illustrated  by  Modern 
Foreign  Missions,"  deal  especially  with  the  missionary 
side ;  but  the  whole  book  is  worthy  of  study  by  the  mis- 
sionary. 

Patten,  Simon  N.  The  Nezv  Basis  of  Civilization.  1907. 
Macmillan   Company,   New  York.     $1.00,   net. 

Interprets  in  a  specially  suggestive  and  stimulating  way 
the  meaning  and  significance  of  the  recent  social  changes. 

Report  of  World  Missionary  Conference,  1910.  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Company,  New  York.     9  Vols.     $5.00. 

The  report  of  the  World  Missionary  Conference  at 
Edinburgh  is  of  permanent  value  to  all  students  of  mis- 
sions. Particularly  the  reports  of  Commissions:  II,  The 
Native  Church  and  its  workers;  III,  Education  in  rela- 
tion to  Christianization  of  national  life;  and  VII,  Rela- 
tion of  missions  to  governments. 

Ross,  E.  A.  Social  Control.  1906.  Macmillan  Company, 
New  York.     $1.25,  net. 

A  work  on  the  border  line  between  sociology  and  poli- 
tics, but  particularly  suggestive  in  that  it  points  out  the 
psychological  and  sociological  foundations  of  government. 

Schm.idt,  C.  G.  A.  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity.  1889. 
Pitman  &  Sons,  London.     7s.  6d. 

A  study  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  in  bringing 
about  reforms  in  the  poltical  and  social  life  of  the  Roman 
Empire;  traces  in  considerable  detail  the  results  of  the 
beneficent  impact  of  Christianity  on  the  vices  and  wrongs 
of  heathen  society. 

Slater,  T.  E.  The  Influence  of  the  Christian  Religion  in  His- 
tory.    George  H.   Doran  Company,  New  York.    $1.50. 

A  thoughtful  and  suggestive  sketch  of  the  power  of 
preservation,  progress,  and  social  reform,  shown  by  the 
Christian  religion  in  history,  ancient  and  modern. 


290  Bibliography 

Slater,  T.  E.  Missions  and  Sociology.  1908.  Eliot  Stock, 
London.     35  cents. 

A  valuable  monograph  on  the  social  bearings  and  con- 
tributions of  Christian  missions,  especially  in  India;  writ- 
ten by  a  well-known  missionary  of  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society. 

Speer,  Robert  E.  Christianity  and  the  Nations.  1910.  Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Company,   New  York.     $2.50. 

A  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  theory  and  practise 
of  missions,  including  such  themes  as  the  basis,  aims, 
and  methods  of  missions,  the  problems  of  the  native 
Church,  missions  and  politics,  Christianity  and  the  non- 
Christian  religions,  and  the  unifying  influence  of  mis- 
sions ;  written  by  a  foremost  missionary  authority  and 
leader. 

Taylor,  Alva  W.  The  Social  Work  of  Christian  Missions. 
191 1.  Foreign  Christian  Missionary  Society,  Cincinnati. 
50  cents. 

A  brief  and  somewhat  general  treatment  of  the  social 
and  humanitarian  work  of  Christian  missions. 

Tenney,  E.  P.  Contrasts  in  Social  Progress.  Illustrated  by 
the  Story  of  Five  Great  Religions..  1914.  Rumford 
Press,  Concord,  N.  H.     $1.00,  postpaid. 

Contrasts  in  domestic,  civic,  industrial,  fraternal,  educa- 
tional, in  books,  moral  seed  thoughts,  and  growth. 

Warneck,  G.  Modern  Missions  and  Culture.  1888.  W.  B. 
Ketcham,  7  West  i8th  Street,  New  York.     $2.50. 

The  reciprocal  development  of  these  two  factors  since 
the  publication  of  this  study  has  confirmed  the  essential 
soundness  of  the  views  developed  by  Dr.  Warneck  as  to 
the  cultural  importance  of  missions,  the  need  of  provid- 
ing for  this  aspect  of  the  work,  and  the  principles  of  ad- 
justment between  the  spread  of  culture  and  of  the  gospel. 

Departments  of  Work 

Barnes,  Irene  H.    Between  Life  and  Death.    1901.     Church 
of  England  Zenana  Missionary  Society,  London.    3s.  6d. 
Account   of   the   need,   methods,   incidents,   and   oppor- 
tunities of  woman's  medical  work,  especially  in  India  and 
China. 

Burton,  Margaret  E.  Education  of  Women  in  China.  191 1. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.25. 

Attractively  written  sketches  of  the  lives  of  six  Chris- 
tian Chinese  women  who  are  strong  testimonies  to  the 
power  of  Christianity. 


Bibliography  291 

Christian  Education  of  Women  in  the  East.     1912.     Student 
Christian  Movement,  London.    2s.,  net. 

Addresses  delivered  at  a  Conference  of  University 
Women  at  Oxford,  September,  1912.  Valuable  for 
breadth  of  outlook. 

Cowan,  Minna  G.  The  Education  of  the  Women  of  India. 
1912.  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.  $1.25,  net. 
A  useful  survey  of  the  present  situation,  well  illus- 
trated by  statistical  tables  and  pictures.  Worthy  of  study 
by  all  who  wish  to  grasp  the  problems  before  missionary 
educators  in  India. 

De  Gruche,  Kingston.    Dr.  Apricot  of  Heaven  Below.     1910. 
Marshall  Brothers,  London.    2s.  6d. 

An  interesting  story  of  Dr.  Main  of  Hangchow,  illus- 
trating the  need,  daily  work,  and  results  of  medical  mis- 
sions. 

Kilborn,   Omar  L.       Heal   the   Sick.     1910.    Missionary   So- 
ciety of  the  Methodist  Church,  Toronto.     50  cents. 

Story  of  medical  missions  as  carried  on  by  a  Canadian 
missionary  in  West  China.  Contains  two  chapters  on 
the  Canadian  Methodist  medical  work. 

Lewis,  R.  E.     Educational  Conquest  of  the  Far  East.     1903. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.00. 

A  good  account  of  education  in  China  and  Japan,  with 
special  reference  to  Christianity — up  to  date  of  publica- 
tion. 

Moorshead,  R.  F.     The  Appeal  of  Medical  Missions.     1913. 
Oliphant,  Anderson  &  Ferrier,  London.     2s.  6d.,  net. 

A  forcible  statement  of  the  basis,  need,  power,  and 
progress  of  medical  missions. 

Osgood,  E.  L    Breaking  Down  Chinese  Walls.     1908.    Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.00. 

An  interestingly  written  account  by  one  who  has  con- 
ducted a  hospital  and  dispensary  in  China  for  eight  years, 
preaching  the  gospel  and  healing  the  sick  in  the  villages 
round  about. 

Wishard,  John  G.     Twenty  Years  in  Persia.     1908.    Fleming 
H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.50. 

An  interesting  record  of  what  a  medical  missionary- 
alone  could  observe  and  experience;  one  of  the  best 
books  on  the  subject. 

Countries 

Crawford,  Dan.     Thinking  Black.    1913.    George  H.  Doran 
Company,  New  York.    $2.00,  net. 


292  Bibliography 

A  satisfying  summary  of  twenty-two  years  of  travel, 
observation,  and  experience  in  Central  Africa  without  a 
furlough.  The  author  shows  a  keen  insight  into  the 
mental  life  of  the  African. 
Harris,  John  H.  Dawn  in  Darkest  Africa.  1912.  E.  P. 
Button  &  Co.,  New  York.    $3.50,  net. 

Written  as  a  result  of  a  tour  of  the  Belgian  Kongo, 
but  includes  the  whole  West  Coast,  by  one  who  was 
formerly  a  missionary  in  the  Kongo,  who  is  not  only  an 
authority  on  missionary  problems  and  a  warm  friend  of 
the  African  races,  but  also  a  well-informed  student  of 
economic  and  political  questions. 
Tucker,  Alfred  R.  Eighteen  Years  in  Uganda  and  East 
Africa.  191 1.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  New  York. 
$2.10. 

A  record  of  religious  and  social  progress  in  Uganda. 
Ross,   E.   A.     The   Changing  Chinese.     191 1.     Century  Com- 
pany, New  York.    $2.50. 

Written   by   a  professor  of   sociology,   this  book  con- 
tains   much    that    v/ould    escape    the    ordinary    observer.- 
Perhaps  the  most  readable  of  the  recent  books. 
The  China  Mission  Year  Book.     1910-1913.    Missionary  Edu- 
cation Movement,  New  York.    $1.50. 

Annual  survey  of  missionary  work  and  its  setting  which 
is  indispensable.     The  many  phases  of  work  are  treated 
by  specially  qualified  writers. 
Chirol,  Valentine.     Indian   Unrest.     1910.     Macmillan   Com- 
pany, New  York.    $2.00,  net. 

An  authoritative  study  of  the  causes  of  unrest  in  the 
Indian  Empire. 
Fleming,   D.   J.     The  Social  Mission  of   the   Church  in  In- 
dia.    1913.     The  Association  Press,   Calcutta.     Annas  2. 
Fleming,    D.    J.      Social    Studies,    Service,    and    Exhibits. 
1913.     The   Association   Press,    Calcutta.     Rupees    1-4. 

Brief   exposition  of  the   social   mission  of  the   Church 
in  India  based  upon  the  teachings  of  the  Bible. 
Jones,  John   P.    India:  Its  Life  and   Thought.     1908.     Mac- 
millan Company,  New  York.    $2.50. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  the  chapters  in  which 

the  relation  of   the  movements   for   religious   reform  to 

the  Christian  propaganda  is  canvassed. 

Morrison,  John.     Nezv  Ideas  in  India  During  the  Nineteenth 

Century.     1906.     Macmillan  Company,  New  York.    $1.60. 

Dr.    Morrison   traces  the  influence   of   Christian  ideas 
upon  the  educated  classes  of  India. 


Bibliography  293 

The  Year  Book  of  Missions  in  India.  1912-1913.  Missionary 
Education  Movement,  New  York.     $1.50. 

Contains  a  general  survey  of  the  country,  religions, 
the  work  of  Protestant  missions,  and  other  subjects  of 
keen  interest  to  missionary  students. 

The  Christian  Movement  in  Japan.  1902-1913.  Missionary 
Education   Movement,   New  York.    $1.00. 

These  annual  volumes,  twelve  in  number,  contain  in- 
teresting references  to  the  relation  which  missions  bear  to 
certain  phases  of  social  progress  in  Japan. 

Religions 

DeGroot,  J.  J.  M.  Religions  in  China.  1912.  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  New  York.    $1.50. 

Buddhism  is  omitted  and  Confucianism  and  Taoism 
are  treated  more  fully  than  in  his  previous  volume. 

Hall,  Charles  C.  Christ  and  the  Eastern  Soul.  1909.  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press,  Chicago.     $1.25. 

The  Barrows  lectures,  delivered  in  1906-1907  by  Dr. 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  in  India ;  the  lectures  are  irenic, 
yet  loyal  to  the  supremacy  and  dignity  of  Christianity; 
recognize  fully  all  that  is  good  in  ethnic  religions,  and 
are  highly  appreciative  of  the  gifts  and  capacities  of  the 
Eastern  soul,  especially  its  ability  to  profit  by  and  exem- 
plify the  benefits  of  the  Christian  religion,  when  loyally 
and  intelligently  accepted. 

Hall,  Charles  C.  The  Universal  Elements  of  the  Christian 
Religion.  1905.  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York. 
$1.25. 

An  attempt  to  interpret  contemporary  religious  con- 
ditions; makes  it  clear  that  Christianity  alone  has  a 
message  for  all  men. 

Hopkins,  Edward  W.  The  Religions  of  India.  1895.  Ginn 
&  Co.,  Boston.    $2.00. 

Professor  Hopkins  writes  as  a  specialist  who  has 
studied  in  India  the  various  religions  included  therein; 
in  many  respects  the  best  comprehensive  work  on  the 
subject. 

Hume,  Robert  A.  Missions  from  the  Modern  View.  1905. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.25. 

Views  of  a  famous  missionary  born  in  India  as  to  God 
and  the  world,  the  relations  of  missions  to  psychology" 
and  sociology,  what  Christianity  and  Hinduism  can  gain 
from  each  other,  as  to  how  the  gospel  should  be  pre- 
sented to  Hindus. 


294  Bibliography 

Knox,  George  W.     The  Development  of  Religion  in  Japan, 
1907.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York.     $1.50. 

With  insight  and  scholarship  Professor  Knox  writes  an 
account  of  the  religions  that  have  invaded  Japan  and  of 
their  influence  upon  the  evolution  of  the  nation;  indi- 
cates the  influence  of  Christianity  in  the  progress  of  the 
New  Japan. 

Menzies,  Allan.    History  of  Religion.     1895.     Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons,  New  York.    $1.50. 

A  compendious  Vitw  of  ancient  and  present-day  re- 
ligions from  the  modern  standpoint;  intended  for  text- 
book use  in  colleges,  etc. 

Mitchell,  J.   Murray.     The  Great  Religions  of  India.    Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     $1.50. 

The  Duff  lectures,  written  by  a  veteran  who,  in  India 
and  at  home,  was  a  student  and  authority  on  Hinduism, 
Zoroastrianism,  Buddhism,  and  the  other  native  religions 
of  India. 

Nassau,  Robert  H.    Fetichism  in  West  Africa.    1904.    Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  New  York.     $2.50. 

Forty  years'  observation  of  native  customs  and  super- 
stitions have  enabled  this  missionary  author  to  present  a 
vast  amount  of  material  relating  to  every  phase  of  the 
religious  and  social  life  of  West  Africa. 

Ross,  John.     The  Original  Religion  of  China.     1909.     Metho- 
dist Book  Concern,  New  York.     $1.25. 

A  scholarly  discussion  of  the  primitive  monotheistic 
and  animistic  beliefs  of  the  Chinese  people;  the  sub- 
stratum of  the  present-day  religions  of  China;  written  by 
a  Scotch  missionary  in  Manchuria. 

Zwemer,   Samuel   M.     The  Moslem  Doctrine  of  God.     1905. 
American  Tract  Society,  New  York.     45  cents. 

Valuable  monograph  on  a  vital  doctrine  of  Mohamme- 
danism ;  written  by  a  high  missionary  authority  on  Islam. 

Biography 

Blaikie,  W.  Garden.    The  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone. 

1880.     Fleming   H.    Revell    Company,   New   York.     $1.50. 

Standard  life  of  Africa's  greatest  missionary  explorer; 

large  use  of  extracts  from  Livingstone's  writings. 

Brown,     George.     George    Brown,    D.D.     1909.     George    H. 

Doran   Company,   New  York.     $3.50. 

Narrative  of  forty-eight  years'  residence,  travel,  and 
labor  of  a  missionary  pioneer  and  explorer  among  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific;  very  valuable. 


Bibliography  295 

Griffis,  W.  E.     Verheck  of  Japan.     1900.    Fleming  H.  Revell 

Company,  New  York.    $1.50. 

Life  and  work  of  the  most  influential  missionary  and 

publicist  that  Japan  has  had;  described  by  one  who  knew 

him  and  his  work  well. 
Hamlin,    Cyrus.     My    Life    and    Times — an    Autobiography. 

1893.     Congregational  Sunday  School  and  Publishing  So- 

ciet}^  Boston.     $1.25. 
The  record  of  the  career  of  the   founder  of   Robert 

College,  Constantinople,  and  the  most  influential  figure  in 

the  history  of  education  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  within  the 

last  half  century. 
Hawker,    George.      The    Life    of    George    Grenfcll.      1909. 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     $2.00. 

Biography  of  one  of   the  most  able  and  devoted   and 

unostentatious  of  missionaries,  who  explored   and  evan- 
gelized the   Kongo   country   in   the  spirit  and  after  the 

method  of  Livingstone. 
Jessup,  Henry  H.    Fifty-three  Years  in  Syria,  2  Vols.     1910. 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  New  York.     $5.00. 

Autobiography  of   a  truly  great  missionary  statesman 

and  pioneer  in  Syria;  acquaints  the  reader  with  the  forces 

which  are  making  the  new  Turkish  Empire. 
Smith,  George.     The  Life  df  William  Carey,  D.D.     1887.    E. 

P.  Button,  New  York.     35  cents,  net. 
Smith,  George.     The  Life  of  Alexander  Duif.     1900.     Hodder 

&  Stoughton,  London.     (Out  of  print.) 
Wells,     Jamies.    Stewart    of    Lovedale.     1909.    Fleming    H. 

Revell  Company,  New  York.    $1.50. 

Biography   of   a   prince   among   missionaries;    recounts 

the  varied  and  untiring  efforts  of  the  "  long  strider,"  and 

shows  his  influence  upon  the  development  of  South  and 

Central  Africa. 


INDEX 


Abdul  Hamid,  82 

Accuracy,  growth  of,  in  the 
Orient,  78 

Achievements  of  missiona- 
ries in  the  world's  work, 
186-189 

Administrative  men  needed, 
202 

Africa,  Islam  in,  S2 

African  languages  and  dia- 
lects, no 

Agricultural  college  at 
Poona,  242 ;  department  at 
Allahabad,  156 

Aims,  Christian,  for  heathen 
lands,  97 

Aintab  school,  119 

American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society  Report, 
1912,  quoted,   153 

American  Bible   Society,   114 

American  Board,  new  policy 
formulated,  230;  reaction 
against  educational  meth- 
ods, 229,  230;  Report,  1913, 
231;  schools  of  the,  119 

American  and  European 
ideals  in  the  East,  effect 
of.  35,  118 

American  College  for  Girls 
at  Constantinople,  119,  172 

American  Diplomacy  in  the 
Orient,  quoted,  196 

Americanizing  Turkey,  quot- 
ed,  118 


America's  attitude,  9 
Ancient  Israel,  7 
Annals     of     the     American 
Academy   of    Political   and 
Social  Science,  quoted,  45, 
117,  125 
Antioch,  early  church  in,  276 
Apostolic  letters,  23 
Aristotle  and  the  state,  4 
Armstrong,  Gen.  S.  C,  142 
Arnold,      Matthew,      quoted, 

140 
Arya-Somaj,  the,  263 
Athens,  character  of,   10 
Athletic    sports,    growth    of, 

204;  reasons  for,  206 
Atlantic  Monthly,  quoted,  50, 

160 
Attitude  of  Jesus,  12,  14 
Autonomous,  Eastern  Church- 
es made,  275 
Axenfeld,  Dr.,  quoted,  28 
Azariah,  Bishop  V.  S.,  277 


Baker,  Henry  D.,  on  Salva- 
tion Army  silk  looms  in 
India,  192 

Baldwin,  Arthur  C,  quoted, 
100 

Baptist  Social  Service  Com- 
mission, 26 

Barriers  between  East  and 
West,  39 ;  broken  down  by 
modern  scientific  work,  79 ; 
contempt  a  barrier,  250 


Index 


Barton,  J.  L.,  190,  251,  267 
Basel       Mission,      industrial 

work  at,    147,   I59 
Bawden,  S.  D.,  153,  I55,  I57 
Beirut,  school,  119 
Bennett,  Albert  A.,  178 
Berlin  Missionary  Society,  28 
Bible  Magazine,  The,  quoted, 

213 
Bible,  presented  to  the  Em- 
press Dowager,  113;  trans- 
lation  in    China,    112;    and 
circulation  in  Japan,  114 
Bishop  of  Madras,  58,  59 
Bliss,  Dr.  Howard  S.,  report 
of   Syrian   Protestant  Col- 
lege for   1913,  231 
Board    of    Foreign    Missions 
of      Methodist      Episcopal 
Church,  Report,  1912,  quot- 
ed, 143 
Book  of  Acts,  a  marvel   of 
candor,  loi ;  pictures  social 
movement,       19;       reveals 
spiritual  growth,  267 ;  self- 
supporting  churches,  2^6 
Booth,   General  William,   138 
Booth  -  Tucker's      testimony, 

T52 
Bossuet,  quoted,  283 
Bowen,   Rev.    A.  J.,   quoted, 

143 
Brahmo-Somaj,  the,  263 
Brent,  Bishop,  quoted,  161 
Bridgman,  Dr.  E.  C,  195 
Britain.     See  Great  Britain 
British     and     Foreign     Bible 

Society,  114 
British  Central  Africa,  iii 
British      government      helps 

mission     work     in     Egypt, 

102 
Brooks,   Phillips,  quoted,  248 
Brotherhood's  narrow  bounds 

in   India,   175;  universal  in 

Christ,  175 


Brown,  A.  J.,  quoted,  115 
Brown,     Professor     William 

Adams,  32,  244 
Buddhism's  message,  52 
Business  dependent  on  means 

of  communication,  249 
Bunyan,  John,  16 
Burgess,    J.    S.,    of    Peking, 

245 
Burke,  Edmund,  quoted,  9 
Burmese,     beUefs,     old     and 

new,  90; 
Bible,  111-115,  124,  129 


Cadbury,  W.  W.,  quoted,  135 
Caldecott,  Professor,  quoted, 

103 
Calvin,  John,  25 
Candor,     the    obligation    of, 

lOI 

Canton,     Christian     College, 

200;  schools,   126 
Carey,     William,     life     and 
methods,    214-224;    quoted, 
107;  work  of.   III 
Carrying  the  Gospel,  109 
Carter,  E.  C,  quoted,  243 
Caste    a    boycotting    system, 
41,  42;  grades  of,  40;  sins 
against,  41 
Castes,  the  four  great,  40 
Chianges,    world,    .of    recent 

years,  283,  284 
Chaos  or  Christianity,  96 
"  Charter   oath    of    Five   Ar- 
ticles "  by  Mutsuhito,  83 
China,  call  for  united  Church 
in,  281  ;   reform   efforts  in, 
265;  self-governing  church- 
es in,  276;  social  structure 
in,  44-47  ^     ^ 

China    Mission    Year    Book, 
1913,  quoted,  204 


Index 


299 


Chinese,  approach,  134,  137; 
industrial  qualities,  143  ; 
leaders  to  interpret  Chris- 
tianity for  themselves,  274; 
medical  practise,  134;  mor- 
al evils,  164-166;  scholar, 
125;  schools,  125,  128,  129; 
versions  of  English  books, 

113 

Chirol,      Valentine,      quoted, 

167 
Christ.     See  Jesus  Christ 
Christian,  advance,  95,  263 
environment,  28;  faith,  102, 
256;    missions.      See    Mis- 
sion work;  school  men  in 
recent    crisis,    196 ;    source 
for  progress  rejected,  263; 
unity  on  the  foreign  field, 
278-281 
Christian  Literature   Society, 
for   India,   116;   in  Shang- 
hai, 113 
"  Christian  loafers,"  144,  145 
Christian  Missions  and  Social 

Progress.  109,  178,  196 
Christian    Movement    in    Ja- 
pan, The,  130 
Christianity    and    the    Social 

Crisis,  8,  21 
Christianity   a   personal   reli- 
gion, 64 
Christianized  play  and  work, 

207 
Christianizing  the  aim,  168 
Christly  deeds,  177-179 
Christus  Liberator,  no 
Church    Missionary    Society, 

160 
"  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan," 

280 
Church,  the  modern,  22 
Churches,  the,  and  social  ef- 
fort, 26 
Cigarets,  166,  24,^ 
City  characteristics,   10 


Clarke,      William      Newton, 

quoted,  184 
Clough,  A.  H.,  quoted,  210 
Clough,  Mrs.  J.  E. ;  referred 

to,  60 
Clough,    Dr.    J.    E.,   60,    61; 

Autobiography,  quoted,  146, 

248 
Coffin,  Henry  Sloan,  quoted, 

272,  273 
Cohesion  in  the  East,  27 
Communal  life,  the  case  for, 

Communication,    increase    of 

means  of,  249 
Comparative     Handbook     of 

Congo  Languages,   109 
Conference  at  Lahore,  58 
Conger,   Mr.,  in   Peking,   196 
Congregational      Church      a 

mission  factor,  280 
Conscience,  in  Persian,  261 
"  Consent  of  the  governed,'* 

8 
Constantinople,  Christian 

schools  at,  119 
Contemplative  life,  the,  269 
Contempt  a  barrier,  250 
Contraction,  danger  in,  266 
Contrasts  and  divergences  in 

ideas    and    ideals,    2i7,    Z^r 

68 
Conversion,    implications   of, 

55. 
Coolies,  the  jinrickisha.  245 
Corinthians,  the,  20,  282 
Corporate  theory  of  govern- 
ment, 9 
Cosmopolitan  spirit  required, 

250 
Costume,    European,    in    the 

East,  89 
Crawford,   Dan,   on    African 

unwritten     language,     no. 

167 ;    views    and    work   of, 

239 


300 


Index 


Cromer,  Lord,  on  diver- 
gences of  East  and  West, 
68 

Cross-fertilization  of  East 
and  West,  252 

Cue,  the,  89;  other  changes 
in  China,  90,  91 

Cushing,  Caleb,  195 


Daibutsu,  the,  53 

Daily  consular  and  trade  re- 
ports, 193 

Darwin,  Charles,  on  barbar- 
ous languages,  107;  Life 
and  Letters,  quoted,  on 
mission  work,  192 

"  Dawn  of  Peace,  The,"  85 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  U.  S,  8 

Democracy,  spread  of,  174 

Dennis,  J.  S.,  109,  178,  196 

Dewev,  Admiral,  in  Manila 
Bay,  8 

Dictionary  of  All  Sanskrit- 
derived  Languages,  by  Ca- 
rey, III 

Difficulty  of  translation,  105; 
some  examples,  106-112 

Disciple  the  nations,  273 

Doshisha,  The,  130 

Drummond,  Henry,  on  the 
majesty  of  mission  work, 
100 

Dufif,  Alexander,  views  on 
English  in  mission  schools, 
75,  225-227 


Early  Church,  the,  20 

Eastern  churches,  planted  by 
the  Church  of  Christ,  275, 
280;  by  Congregationalists, 

275,  280 ;  by  Presbyterians, 

276,  280;    Reformed,    276, 
280 


Eddy,  Sherwood,  120,  253, 
265 

Edinburgh  Conference ;  re- 
ferred to,  28,  109,  144,  272 

Educational  work,  116-131; 
call  for,  in  fields,  116; 
development  of  native  lead- 
ers, 123;  in  Africa,  121, 
122;  in  China,  125-129;  in 
India,  121-125;  in  Japan, 
129-131;  in  Turkey,  117- 
120 

Education  as  social  service, 
116;  Lord  Kitchener's 
views,  157 

Egypt,  Lord  Kitchener's  work 
in,  157;  Nile  dam,  102 

Eliot,  President  Charles  W., 
252 

Emergency  in  China,  The, 
128 

Empire  of  India,  50 

Empress   Dowager,  the,    125, 

113 
English  daisy  in  India,  Carey, 

English  language,  mfluence 
of  the,  74,  75.  225-227 

Environment,  effects  of,  22 

Episcopal  Churches  in  China 

Epistles,  social  teachings  in 
the,  20 

Equality,  not  desired  in  the 
Orient,  40 

Eskimos,  104 

Essay  on  Liberty,  Mills ;  re- 
ferred to,  74 

Essence  of  the  gospel,  255, 
256 

Eucken,   Rudolf,   quoted,    i 

Eugenics,    21 ;     ecclesiastical, 

275 
Ewing    Christian    College    at 

Allahabad,  155 
Examination      halls,      71-73; 

system  pursued  in,  72 


Index 


301 


Exchange  professorships,  252 
Expansion  of  Christianity  in 

the  First  Three  Centuries, 

255 


Fairchild,  David  G.,  on 
plants  introduced  by  mis- 
sionaries,  251 

Faith   and    ethics,    union    of, 
21,  241,  242 
241,  242 

Faith,  Christian,  the  main- 
spring of  progress,   102 

Far  Eastern  Tropics,  The,  39 

Federal      Council      of      the 

Churches    of    Christ,    The, 

27,  28 
Fellowships    at    Oriental 

schools,   253 
Five     kinds     of     missionary 

achievement,  104 
Fixed  habits  of  the  East,  54, 

55 
Fleming,    D,    J.,    on     social 

mission   of   the   Church   in 

India,  194,  195 
Foochow  Union   Theological 

School,  212 
Foot-binding,    165 
Foreign  money,  wrong  use  of 

in  the  East,  277  . 
"  Foreigner's     Religion,"     a, 

272 
Forman     Christian     College, 

200 
Foster,  Hon.  John  W.,  196 
Franklin.  Dr.  J.  H.,  274 
Eraser,    Donald,    on    mission 

schools,  I2T,  122 
Fremont,  John   C,   explorer, 

37 
Fuller,  Sir  Bampfylde,  50 


Gibbon,  Autobiography,  112; 

Decline    and    Fall    of    the 

Roman  Empire;  alluded  to, 

112 
God,  255,  271 ;  as  Father,  97, 

175 ;  as  love,  167,  181 
Gokhale,  Mr.,  organizer,  263 
Golden  rule,  198 
Good  Samaritan  methods,  18 
Great  Britain,   102,    166,  237, 

259 
Greek  views,  Ancient,  4,  7 
Grenfell,  George,  map  of  the 

Kongo,   187 
Grenfell,  W.  T.,  work  of,  188 
Gulick,   L.   H.,   work  of,   188 
Gulick,  Dr.  Sidney  L.,  quoted, 

86 

H 

Haggard,  Dr.  Fred  P.,  on 
schools  in  mission  work, 
228 

Hall,    Charles    Cuthbert,    66, 

184,  248,  2^2 

Hall.  H.  Fielding,  on  Bur- 
mese ideals  and  village 
rule,  50,  70 

Hampton   Institute,    142 

"  Hands,"  a  suggestive  term, 
3 

Harnack,  Adolf,  on  gospel 
aim.  66;  on  message  of 
early  Church,  255 

Harpoot  school,  119 

Hay,  John,  34 

"  Heavenly  Foot  Society," 
165 

Hebrew  prophets  and  the  na- 
tion, 5,  6 

Heine;  referred  to,  52 

Help  to  missions  from  trade 
and  commerce,  102 


302 


Index 


Henderson,  Prof.  Charles  R., 
yy,  1/6,  252 

Heredity,  21 

Higginbottom,  Sam,  on  agri- 
cultural training,  156 

Higher  Criticism  and  the 
monuments,  The,  70 

Hindu  Widows'  Home,  96 

Hinduism,  three  doctrines  in, 
51 

History,  effect  of  study  of, 
93 

Ho,  L.  Y.,  on  stagnant 
China,  45 

Hobbes,  Thomas,  8 

Hodous,  Dr.  Lewis,  on  so- 
cial  work  in  missions,  211 

Hollister,  W.  H.,  153;  on  in- 
dustrial work,   154 

Homer,  quoted,  4 

Hoskins,  Dr.,  quoted,  173 

Howard,  John,  25 

Hozv  to  Study  the  Jinrick- 
shaw  Coolie,  245 

Human  Progress  Through 
Missions,  190,  251,  267 

Huss,  John,  25 


Ideals,  Eastern  and  Western, 
35,  70 

Ideals  of  Carey  and  Duff,  re- 
action from  the,  227,  228 

Imitation  of  Christ,  The,  246 

Immortality,  Jewish  idea  of, 
6 

"  In  Memoriam,"  referred 
to,  74 

Independence  of  thought, 
OricNtal,  274;  reasons  for 
American,  36,  37 

India,  caste  system,  40-42,  62, 
79,  176;  durbar  and  rever- 
ence for  power,  40;  educa- 


tion, 122;  industrial  move- 
ments, 94,  95,  144-155,  192, 
193;  medical  advance,  132- 
134;  immoral  standards, 
164;  native  leaders,  124, 
277 ;  personality  sacrificed, 
50-53 ,'  resisting  Christian 
advance,  96;  subjection  of 
woman,  43,  44,  169 ;  union 
Christian  steps,  280;  vil- 
lage rule,  49;  work  of  Ca- 
rey and  Duff,  217-227 

Indian  approach,  132 ;  gov- 
ernment "  grants  in  aid," 
112;  schools,  123 

Indian   Interpreter,   The,  271 

India's  Problem:  Krishna  or 
Christ,  121,  213 

India's   Unrest,  67 

Individualism,  3,  6,  13,  35; 
suppressed  in  the  East,  50 

Industrial  work,  141-162; 
Eden  the  earliest  industrial 
school,  141 ;  effect  in 
Hampton  and  Tuskegee, 
142;  in  Africa,  157-161 ;  in 
India,  144-157;  in  the 
Philippines,  142,  161,  162 

Institutional  church,  244 ; 
consolidation,   279 

"  Interference "  in  religion, 
256,  257 

International  Review  of  Mis- 
sions, 60,  77,  88,  122,  145, 
146,   150,  156,  177 

Inter-Racial  Problems,   104 

Ireland,    Alleyne,   quoted,    39 

Isabella  Thoburn  College  at 
Lucknow,  172 


Jabalpur,  interdenominational 

conference,  280 
Jackson,  Dr.  Sheldon,  189 


Index 


303 


Japan,  Bible,  and  other  trans- 
lated works,  114;  culture, 
129 ;  defective  moral  view- 
point, 86.  88;  Emperor,  92; 
lack  of  personalit3%  47,  48; 
unrest,  88 

Japan  Mail,  quoted,   197 

Japanese  Nation,  The,  39,  48, 
83,  85,  263 

Jesus  Christ,  28,  66,  97,  114, 
122,  248,  255,  262,  265 ;  as 
Fulfiller,  16;  message  per- 
sonal, 15;  Oriental  life  of, 
274;  purposed  revolution, 
2,  18,  19,  181 

Java,  av.-akening,  93 ;  effect 
of  education  in,  144 

Jerusalem,  11;  community  of 
goods  in  the  early  Church, 
20;  first  council,  267;  sent 
helpers  but  not  money  to 
new  churches,  276 

Johnston,  H.  H.,  no,  167, 
186 

Jonah,  II 

Jones,  J.  P.,  121,  213 

Judson,  Adoniram,  transla- 
tion work  of,  III 


K 


Kaffir  Dictionary,  109 

Keen,  W.  W.,  189 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  175, 
263 

Kitchener,  Lord,  157 

Knox,  Dr.  G.  W.,  on  meager 
results  of  Eastern  wars,  54 

Koelewyn,  Dr.  D.,   144 

Koran,  The,  42 ;  good  points 
in  its  teaching,  43 :  school 
book,  80 ;  static  effect,  42, 
43 ;  wrong  to  womanhood, 
43,  44 

Korea,  transformation  cf,  62 


Labor  problems  in  China  and 
India,  94 

Lady  Dufferin  Hospitals,  172 

Language  and  literature,  dif- 
ficulty of  translation  into 
non-Christian  tongues,   104 

"Language  schools,"  uses  of, 
279 

Lassa,  Z2, 

Law,  Western,  in  the  East, 
93 

Leaders,  native,  in  India, 
124;  in  China  and  Japan, 
125 

Leopold,  King,  192 

Lepers,  asylums  for  and  mis- 
sions to,  178 

Life  of  Christ,  by  Professor 
Yamada,  in  Japanese,  114 

Life  of  William  Carey,  The, 
quoted,   107,  216 

Life  of  Alexander  Dnff,  The, 
quoted,  226,  227 

Life  of  A.  M.  Mack  ay,  quot- 
ed, 191 

Literacy,  of  China,  116;  of 
Egypt,   117 

Literary  work,  104-116;  Bible 
translation  and  circulation, 
104,  III,  112,  114,  115; 
Christian  literature,  113- 
116;  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come, 104-110 

Livingstone,  David,  explorer, 
186 ;  ideals  in  mission 
work,  232 

Livingstonia  Mission,  109, 
121 

Locke,  John,  8 

'*  Lone  Star  Mission,"  60 

Lord's  Prayer,  The,  in  Jap- 
anese, 114 

Love,  difficult  of  translation, 
ig6 


304 


Index 


Lovedale  plans,  236-239 
Lovedale,     Stevv^art    of,     103, 

160,  239;  life  and  work  of, 

234-238 

M 

Mabie,  Hamilton  W.,  252 

Macaulay,  Lord,  action  taken 
by,  in  India,  75 

MacGowan,  Dr.,  165 

Machinery,  results  of  the  in- 
troduction of,  94 

Mackay,  Alexander  M.,  159; 
an  engineering  missionary, 
190 

McKean,  J.  W.,  178 

McTyeire  school  in  Shang- 
hai,   172 

Maine,  Sir  Henry,  quoted,  35 

Manila  Bay,  8 

Mann,  Dr.,  of  Poona  Agri- 
cultural College,  156,  243 

Marsovan  school,  119 

Martin,  Dr.  W.  A.  P.,  trans- 
lator, 195,  197 

Martyn,  Henry,  work  of,  in 
translation,  iii 

Mass  movements,  examples 
of,  57,  58,  60,  63,  64 

Mazoomdar,  leader  of  Brah- 
mo-Somaj,  263,  268 

Medical  work,  131-138;  a 
means  of  approach,  131, 
'i^Zy,  138;  results  in  China, 
134-136;  in  India,  132-134 

Mekka,  2,Z 

Methodist  Church  in  Japan, 
275 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Federation  for  Social  Serv- 
ice, 26 

Methodist  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  Japan,  114,  268 

Methods  of  approach,  three 
theories,  4,  7,  9 


Methods  of  Social  Work,  245 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  74 

Milne,  Dr.,  translator,  on 
learning  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage, 112 

Milton,  John,  idea  of  society, 
5 

Miracles  of  Christ,  social 
significance,   18 

Mission  work,  literary,  104- 
116;  educational,  116-131 ; 
medical,  131-138;  indus- 
trial, 141-162;  reforming, 
162-181 

Mission  ships,  work  of,  187, 
188 

Missionary     Message,      The, 

87. 
Missionary,  A,  newly  defined, 

Missionaries  assist,  in  diplo- 
matic service,  195-197;  in 
plant  diffusion,  25 

Missions  and  Sociology,   169 

Missions  and  Social  Prog- 
ress, 178,  187 

Missions  may  be  secularized, 
213 

Mistakes  of  medieval  mis- 
sionaries, 64 

Modern  Egypt,  68 

Modern  Missionary  Century, 
The,  112 

Moffat,  Robert,  quoted,  137, 
185 ;  translator  of  the 
Bible,    109 

Mohammedanism,  42,  43 ; 
education  in,  80,  81 ;  wom- 
an under,  43 

Money,  foreign,  in  non- 
Christian  lands,  276,  277 

"  Morgan  of  Japan,  The," 
88 

Morley,  Lord  John,  175 

Moro  needs,  161,  162 

Morrison,  John,  42,  51 


Index 


305 


Morrison,     Robert,     Bible 

translator,   112,   195 
Morse,  S.  F.  B.,  37 
Moslem   approach,   131 
Mott,  John  R..   120,  253,  279 
Motto  on  Spanish  coins,  284 
Mtesa,  King,  159,  191 
Miiller,  Rev.  J.,   149 
Mutsuhito,  34;   early  procla- 
mation by,  83 


Nirvana,  53 

Nitobe,  Inazo,  quoted,  39,  48, 

83.  262 
Nogi,    General;    referred    to, 

34 
North     American      Review, 

quoted,  25 
Noyes,  Alfred,  quoted,  85 


N 


Nassau,  Robert  H.,  189 
Nation,   the,   as  a  living  be- 
ing, 5 
National   Conference   at 

Shanghai,    138;    Resolution 

adopted,  174,  276 
Nationalism,   spirit  of,  90 
Native     leadership      coming, 

277 
Native     religions,     resistance 

of,  95.  263 
"  Natural  Foot  Society,"  166 
"  Ne  plus  ultra,"  284 
Neesima,  Joseph  Hardy,  130; 

story  of,  252 
New     customs     in     Oriental 

lands,  89 
New  Democracy,  The,  ^6 
New   England  precedent   for 

founding    schools,    120 
Neiv  England's  First  Fruits, 

121 
Nezv  Era  in  Asia,  The,  120, 

253,  265 
"  New  Humanities,  The,"  243 
New  Ideas  in  India,  42 
New  Japan.  83-85 ;  effect  of, 

on  Asia,  85 
New  Testament  message,  pri- 
marily    spiritual,     14,     15 ; 

but  also  social,  15-21 
Nineveh,  11 


Obookiah.  story  of,  252 
Okuma,  Count,  quoted,  87 
Old  Testament  view,  5,  6,  12 
"  Open  door,  The,"  34 
Omar    Khayyam,    quoted,    52 
One    missionary's     influence, 

103 
"  Open  door,  the,"  34 
Opening  Up  of  Africa,  The, 

167,  186 
Opposing  civilizations,  67,  68 
Oriental  courses  by  and  for 
Western  teachers,  254,  255 
Oriental  lives  of   Christ,  267 
Orr,  Dr.,  translator,  114 
Others'  point   of  view,    diffi- 
culty in  comprehending,  68, 
69 


Parker,  Peter,  135,  195 
Parsons,    Ellen    C,    quoted, 

no 
Paton,  John  G.,   185 
Paul,   19;   as  precedent,    193, 

194 
Peabody,  F.  G.,  252 
Pearson,  Alexander,  135 
Peking,  incident  in  the  gov- 
ernment school  in,  129 
Penn,  William,  2>7 
Perils  of  transition,  92 


3o6 


Index 


Perry,  Commodore,  102 

Persecution  of  converts,  145, 
146;  industrial  training  as 
a  resource,  147 

Persia,  Bible  for,  in;  wom- 
en patriots,  173 

Person  or  state  in  three 
theories  of  social  order, 
4-12 

Philanthropy,  proper  meth- 
ods in,  24 

Phi'lippine  Islands,  the,  142, 
161 

Physical   director,   the,  204 

Pierson,  A.  T.,  quoted,  112 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  referred 
to,  16,  105 

"  Pittsburgh  Survey,"  245 

Plato  and  the  Greek  state,  4 

Port  Arthur,  48 

Pott,  F.  L.  Hawks,  126, 
128 

Prayer,   China's  request   for, 

91 
Prayer-life,  need  of  the,  269 
Presbyterian    Church    in    so- 
cial  and  mission  lines,  26, 

276,  280,  281 
Press,  power  of  the,  114 
"  Princess,    The,"   quoted,   74 
Problems  of  industrial  work, 

150 
Promptness,    growth    of,    in 

the  East,  78 
Protestant   Episcopal  Church, 

Social  Service  Commission, 

26 


Qualities     worth     bestowing, 

257-263 
Quarantine      established      by 

medical    missionaries 

against  plague,  133 
Quinine,  189 


Railroads,  79 

Rauschenbausch,  Walter, 
quoted,  6,  21 

Raw  silk  production,   193 

Record  of  Christian  Work, 
178 

Red  Cross  Society,  179 

Reform  work,  162-181 ; 
brotherhood  and  democ- 
racy, 174-177;  Christly 
ministry,  177-179;  dynamic 
moral  power,  179- 181 ; 
emancipation  of  woman, 
169-174;  new  social  order, 
168,  169;  results  in  Africa, 
167;  in  China,  164-166;  in 
India,  162-164 

Religion     socially    pervasive, 

s6 

Resistance  societies  to  every- 
thing Christian,  96 

Results  of  impact  of  West- 
ern and  Eastern  ideals, 
88 

Reverence  lacking  in  West- 
ern nations,  271 

Revolutions — American,  Eng- 
lish, French,  35 

Rice  Christians,  24,  60 

Rice,  William  North,  quoted, 

25 
Richard,  Timothy,  113,  197 
4 — Missions  May  27  Crowell 
Richards,  E.  H.,  quoted,  109 
R.     Siraj-ud-din,     Professor, 
quoted,  on  need  of  prayer- 
life,  269 
Robert     College,     Constanti- 
nople, 119,  200 
Robertson,      Professor;      re- 
ferred to,   107 
Robinson,  John,  25 
Ross,  E.  A.,  quoted,  37 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  8 


Index 


307 


Sabbatic  year  of  the  Western 
teacher,  a  suggestion  for, 
254 

St.  John's  College  at  Shang- 
hai, 126 

Salvation  Army,  26,  138,  179, 
192 

Sanitation  taught,  133 

Sayce,  A.  H.,  quoted,  6g 

School  of  Tropical  Medicine, 
London,   188 

Schools  as  a  pioneer  agency, 
122 :  old  and  new  schools 
in  the  Orient,  71-73-  See 
also  Educational  work 

Science,  influence  of  Western 
in  the  East,  76,  93,  102 

Secularizing  question  in  mis- 
sions, 213,  231 

Seed  and  plant  diffusion,  251 

"  Seeing  China,"  137 

Self-support  of  Eastern 
Churches,  276 

"  Servants  of  India  Society," 
263 

"  Service  of  Missions  to 
Science  and  Societv,  The," 
189 

Seth,  James,  quoted,  32 

Shakespeare,  quoted,  i ;  re- 
ferred to,  105 

Shibusawa,  Baron,  quoted,  on 
Japan's  l^ck  of  faith  and 
morals,  88 

Shintoism  in  Japan,  95 

Short-time  appointments,  199- 
201 

Silk  looms  in  India,   192 

Silo,  use  of,  in  mission  fields, 

155 
"  Simple  gospel  "   and   social 

note,  23 
Single   world-circle,   the,    104 
Slater,   Rev.  T.  E.,  quoted,  168 


Slavery,    attitude    of    Christ, 

15 ;  effect  of  missions,  167 

Smith,  Arthur  H.,  quoted,  on 

Y.  M.  C.  A,  203 
Smith  George,  107,  216,  226, 

227 
Smyrna  school,  119 
Social,  boycott   for  converts, 
145-152;      conscience      de- 
veloping,   264;    element    in 
Christ's    life,    19;    methods 
sweep    outward,    244;    side 
of   Christ's  message,   15 
"  Social  Contract  "  theory,  7-9 
Social  Control,  ^y 
"  Social   Mind,"  the,   10 
Social  Programs  of  the  West, 

255 
Social    Service    Club   at    Pe- 
king, 245 
"  Social  tissue,"  12 
Society    for    Selfless    Work, 

The,  96 
Sociological  work  at  Ameri- 
can colleges,  243 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  10 
Solidarity  in  Japan,  47 
Soul  of  a  People,  The,  70 
South    China   Conference   of 
Missionaries,     at     Canton, 
Report  of,  279 
"South     India     United 

Church,"  280 
Sparta,  characteristics  of,   10 
Spiller,  G.,  quoted,  104 
Spineless  cactus  in  India,  251 
Spirit  of  the  Orient,  The,  54 
Spiritual    message   character- 
istic of  Christ,  15 
Standard,  The,  229 
Standish,  Miles,  25 
Stanley,  Henry  M.,  159,  160 
State,  or  person,  4,  5 
Stead,  W.  T.,  quoted,  T03,  118 
Stewart,  Dr.  James,  of  Love- 
dale,  160,  234-239 


3o8 


Index 


Stewart  of  Lovedale,  103 
Sun  Yat-sen,   46;   career  of, 

252 
Superstition       shattered      by 

science    and   invention,    yy, 

79 
Suttee  abolished,   163 
"  Swadeshi "     movement     in 

India,  95 
Syrian  Protestant  College  at 

Beirut,  119,  200,  231 


Tagore,  poems  of,  270 
Tarsus  school,  119 
Teaching    English    literature, 

effects  of,  74,  76 
Teluga     movement,     Baptist, 

60;  Methodist,  62 
Temper  of  the  early  Church,. 

19 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  74,  210 

Theories  of  the  social  order, 
4-12 

Thinking  Black,  no,  239 

Tinnevelli,  146.  277 

Titanic,  the,  alluded  to,  34 

Togo,  Admiral,  victory  and 
telegram  of,  47 

Tourist  Directory  of  Chris- 
tian Work  in  the  Chief 
Cities  of  the  Far  East,  In- 
dia, and  Egypt,  137 

Trade  and  commerce  as  mis- 
sion helps,  102 

Training  Institute  in  Pasu- 
malai,  144 

Translation,  difficulties  in, 
105-112;  work  of  some 
translators,  195,  197 

Tribal  tyranny,  49 

Tsuda,  Miss  Ume,  quoted,  87 

Turkey,  Christian  schools  in, 
1 17-120 

Two  commandments,  the,  16 


U 

Uganda,  190,  191 

"  Uganda  Company,  Limited, 

The,"  160 
Uganda,  Mackay  of,  159 
Ukita,    Professor,  quoted,   as 

questioning   Japan's    moral 

energy,   180 
Uncleanness  of  customs  and 

symbols  in  India,   164 
Undercurrents     in     Oriental 

lands,  57 
Understanding    necessary    to 

commerce,  249 
Unhygienic  habits,  132 
Unifying     force     found      in 

Christianity,  198 
Union     effort    in    publishing 

work,  279 
United      Presbyterian      Mis- 
sion in  Egypt.  200 
United  States,  9;  opening  of 

Japan,  102 
Unity,      movement      toward, 

278-281 
Unrest  in   Burma,  89 
Utilizing    native    conditions, 

61 


Vaccination,  135 
Vanishing  occupations,  77 
Verbeck;  referred  to,  74,  195 
Village  rule,  49 
Virgin  Birth  of  Christ,  The, 

in  Japanese,  114 
Viveicananda,  Swami,  264 


W 

Wallace,  Alfred,  quoted,  284 
Wang,  C.  T.,  career  of,  252 


Index 


309 


Wanless,  W.  J.,  quoted,  133 
War,  advance  as  the  outcome 

of,  53 
Washington,   Booker  T.,   142 
Watchman-Examiner,  274 
Wealth,     leading    to    luxury 

and  sensuality,  93 
Wells,  James,  234 
Wesley,  John,  last  letter  of, 

26 
W^sleyan     revival     and     its 

fruits,  25,  26 
West  learns   from  the  East, 

267 
Western  learning  favored  for 
China     by     the     Empress 
Dowager,  125 
Weston,  C.  W.,  quoted,  146 
Weyl,  Vv.  E.,  quoted,  36 
Wheaton's  International  Law, 
translated  into  Chinese,  195 
Whispering  -gallery,     the 

world  a,  34 
Whitman,  IMarcus,  Z7 
Whitney,  Eli,  37 
Whittier,  J.   G.,  quoted,  34 
Why   and   How   of  Foreign 

Missions,  The,  115 
Wide-open  world,  a,  33 
Widow     Marriage     Associa- 
tion, 96 
Wilberforce,  William,  26 
Williams,  John,  185,  188 
Williams,  Roger,  2>7 
Williams,  S.  Wells,   113,   195 
Woman     suffrage     and     the 

harems  and  zenanas,  34 
Womanhood,     non-Christian, 
44,  81,  163-174,  179;  eman- 
cipation for  service,  173 


Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union,  179 

Women  of  Bulgaria,  173;  of 
Persia,  173;  of  Syria,  173; 
and  Turkey,  173 

Wonderful  Century,  The,  283 

Words,  Strenuous  English, 
74 

"World-affirmation,"  241 

World  changes  of  recent 
years,  283,  284 

World-wide  method  of  ap- 
proach, 131-137 

Wyclif,  25 


"Yale  in  China,"  127 

Yamada,  Toranosuke,  Life  of 
Christ  in  Japanese,  114,  268 

Year  Book  of  Missions  in 
India,  1912,  116,  124,  152, 
164,  274  ^ 

Yellow  leadership,  not  yellow 
peril,  282 

Yoshiwara,  the.  179 

Young  Men's  Buddhist  Asso- 
ciation, 95 

Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, 27,  94,  95,  179,  202, 
203,  245 

Young  Men  of  India,  243 

"  Young  Turks,"  82 

Yuan   Shi-kai,    President,   91 


Zumbro,  W.  M.,  quoted,  144 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer 


1    1012  01092  2823 


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